Stimulus spending (split from cap& trade thread)

[mheslep]

At least my link looked at comprehensive tax receipts, instead of cherry picking a few places were California has higher taxes.

Citing income taxes and sales tax details is not cheery picking.

 

[mheslep]

Really? Are you sure? Because the person

What do you mean, 'the person'?

said Attorney General Holder. "Every year we lose tens of billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid funds to fraud.

being quoted there first talked about the total health care spending of $2.2 trillion, and how this large magnitude made it prone to fraud. She didn't specify that the $60 billion was only for Medicare/Medicaid, and given that she was talking about the whole industry, it seems unlikely she was referring only to these.

And she also mentions that the $60 billion number was only by some estimates, by the way: she didn't state whether this was among the high or low end of the estimates.

Of course it is an estimate, we're talking about fraud. Assume its on the high side if you like (I don't, as M/M is a rapidly expanding system, and such systems are the most prone to inefficiency)

 

[Chalnoth]

Citing income taxes and sales tax details is not cheery picking.

Sure it is, because property taxes make up a huge fraction of total receipts.

 

[Chalnoth]

What do you mean, 'the person'?

said Attorney General Holder. "Every year we lose tens of billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid funds to fraud.

The U.S. spends more than $2.2 trillion on health care, including more than $800 billion on Medicare and on Medicaid, the joint federal-state program for the poor. The sheer size of the health-care system makes it prone to fraud and abuse, Ms. Sebelius said. By some estimates, more than $60 billion each year is lost to fraud. Attorney General Eric Holder said frauds "contribute directly to rising health-care costs that all Americans must bear."

Holder could still well be correct in is statement even if the $60 billion number was referring to all of medical fraud (If fraud is roughly equal between public and private, $60 billion total would mean roughly $22 billion fraud under Medicare/Medicaid).