Medicare wastes 4 times what private health insurers make in profit

Medicare loses nearly four times as much money as health insurers make.

Did you wake up this morning feeling all warm and fuzzy about the idea that our government will be gaining more and more control over your healthcare and therefore your tax dollars? Trust me ... some people do. You would be surprised at how many Americans start every day with a virtual prayer that the government would step in and take over more of the responsibility for their lives. Look at this statistic.

In a newly released report [pdf], the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that, in fiscal year 2010, $48 billion in taxpayer money was squandered on fraudulent or improper Medicare claims. Meanwhile, the nation's ten largest health insurance companies made combined profits of $12.7 billion in 2010 (according to Fortune 500). In other words, for every $1 made by the nation's ten largest insurers, Medicare lost nearly $4...

Well ... if you have any rational thinking ability at all (which likely means that you were either home-schooled or went to a private school) this little factoid ought to be somewhat dismaying to you. Then again .. it isn't surprising. Tell me of just one government program that is run efficiently and that hasn't cost the taxpayers more than what was originally estimated. Just one program! The fact that these insurance companies are demonized for their "obscene" profits while our government wastes four times that amount is absurd. People should be outraged by government, when instead it is private industry and the evil rich that get the blame.