President Barack Obama has recently announced that the government will use high-tech bounty hunters to help fight health care fraud across the United States. The president has been campaigning this week to help push his health insurance reform bill through Washington and gain the support of wavering Democrats.
These fraud fighters aren’t actually bounty hunters, though — they’re private auditors. And instead of leather jackets and bullet proof vests, the auditors will use computer programs to scan Medicare and Medicaid billing information to look for patterns.
President Obama said that a similar pilot program between 2005 and 2008 in California, New York and Texas helped save around $900 million. The president estimates that using additional private auditors will recoup $2 billion over the next three years.
According to The Huffington Post, the details of this plan were released hours after major businesses started a multi-million dollar campaign against health insurance reform. Many businesses against President Obama’s current proposal are beginning to run TV ads aimed at conservative Democrats and the public. The television ads will first air nationwide and then shift to states with wavering Democrats.
This bounty hunter approach could be successful and will hopefully rein in health insurance fraud.
We have to admit, we were disappointed real bounty hunters weren’t in the picture. President Obama and Dog the Bounty Hunter would have made a great team.