Abstract

Ever since the U.S. Attorney General named health care fraud as the government's second highest priority after violent crime, the government has cracked down on health care fraud and abuse. Some of this crackdown has been needed. The General Accounting Office estimates that as much as 10 percent of all government expenditures on health care are being siphoned out of the system because of fraud or abuse.The extreme measures taken to curb health care abuse have raised eyebrows, however. The American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association both have been vocal in their disapproval, describing the current enforcement initiative as “absolutely out of control.” The associations even went so far as to file suit to enjoin the government's actions.