Getting tough on the welfare state (corporate welfare, that is)

From today's NY Times, NY Gov. George Pataki has decided to crack down on Medicaid fraud and I'm all for it. The state's medicaid bill is someting like 45 billion annually, the largest in the nation. And you can imagine with the large minority and immigrant population the enormous level of fraud going on.

Oh, wait, that's the right wing spin on entitlement programs. Obviously, Gov. Pataki didn't get the talking points from the White House yesterday.

The Medicaid fraud this measure addresses largely bypasses the Reagan welfare queen myth and goes after the real cheaters:

Mr. Pataki, accepting the recommendations of a prominent former prosecutor who concluded that the state was faltering in its efforts against fraud, said he would move to create the agency to tackle widespread theft from the program by doctors, pharmacies and other health care providers. (emphasis mine)

If I'm not mistaken, one of the largest ever settlements on a Medicare/Medicaid fraud case was for something like 1.3 billion dollars. The case was settled by none other than HCA, the company founded by the family of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Yes, the HCA he's being investigated for regarding some questionable stock transactions.

Small world.