On top of that, perky, Medicare doesn't keep track of what the actual costs of things are.
My mother-in-law got a wheelchair thru a medical supply company near me. The chair cost $140.00 out the door. But since she has Medicare and Medicaid, the company was paid $895.00 for the chair by the government...
Meanwhile, Medicare only pays $160 for a $1,500 MRI...
Exactly DD. And that is not the total cost of medicaid. Not only does the federal gummint pay for the actual provider costs, they also pay the states a tidy sum to run the system. Costs such as computer systems, the people to run it, etc. A while back I saw in the local rag that the state of WV was going to procure a new medicaid system, all paid for by the feds, for 800 million dollars.
800 million bucks to keep track of who is enrolled in the system in a state that has 1.6 million people and what they pay out? Good gravy! Seems their current system works just fine but noooooo... we got to buy a new one.
There is the damned waste. I can't imagine what the cost would be for say mexifornia.