Congress Democrats To Fight Medicare Misspending

Fighting Medicare waste, fraud and abuse is one of CongressionalDemocrats' top priorities for 1998; it is estimated that the misspending costs $23 billion annually. Medicare is the theme for the first in a series of forums that Democrats are holding during Congress' recess.

Senate Democrat leader Tom Daschle has urged the bipartisan Medicare Commission to ferret out and address the waste and fraud before dealing with the true dimensions of long-term needs of Medicare. Senator Tom Harkin noted that while the bipartisan budget act approved last summer contained some anti-fraud measures, it is hoped these will be expanded in the coming year. Possible initiatives include tightening up on health care firms that declare bankruptcy to avoid repaying the government for improper billing, tighter requirements for doctors certifying home health programs and giving the Medicare program more resources to do audits and checks.