Defensive Medicine: $1.9 Billion In Medicare Waste Is Just The 'Tip Of The Iceberg'
Monday, May 12, 2014 - 18:50
in Health & Medicine
During the debate over the Affordable Care Act, among the biggest supporters were trial attorneys, and for obvious reasons. A government has unlimited deep pockets. Among those concerned were people in medicine who had seen the rise in 'defensive medicine' - tests and procedures everyone knows are a waste of time and money to check off boxes in case attorney sue In the first large-scale study to directly measure such wasteful spending in Medicare, researchers found that Medicare spent $1.9 billion in 2009 for patients to receive any of 26 tests and procedures that have been shown to offer little or no health benefit. read more