[wakawaka28]

>Medicare fraud is conservatively in the $16 billion+ per year range[1] and a lot of it is easily detectable with data the government already has.

The fraud and waste are a lot more than that. Did you know you can buy FOOD with Medicare? Did you know that doctors are concocting excuses out the wazoo to rack up more visits and more prescriptions? My mom was put on like 4 medications for the same thing, and bluffed into many tests and even emergency procedures she didn't need by an unscrupulous doctor. How the hell are we going to reign in that fraud without denying benefits to people who need them? We could also talk about the insane 3rd party supplemental insurance schemes, the excessive costs of individual items, the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are paying for Ozempic at $1000 per month, 1% of the budget going to dialysis patients who are delivered to routine appointments by ambulance, probably a lot of other crap.