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20. I'm not talking about fraud

You are completely correct about that. But that is maybe 1% of Medicare, and anybody who cheats the taxpayers like that should get 20 years in prison, IMHO. Instead, it is usually a civil case and a financial penalty, like Rick Scott got. You steal 100 million dollars and get fined 10 million. These crooks will take that deal every day of the week.

I am talking about people with no medical training whatsoever being placed in a position of deciding what treatments or medicines you will be allowed. I had a recent first-hand experience. A family member had 3 hospitalizations within a month -- 3 separate issues, but they could have been related -- that is to say, the vascular problem led to major surgery, followed by exhaustion that required a pacemaker.

In this case, we saw no fewer than 20 doctors, including a 10-day stay in ICU. This patient has real Medicare and Medigap. At least 5 times during this ordeal, different doctors or hospitalists said something to the effect of, "We can proceed immediately. You have good insurance. We don't need any prior authorizations." There is a very good chance that this patient would have been dead without real Medicare.