Quote:

Between 2006 and 2011, Medicare spent a total of $172 million to purchase 473,620 such devices, at an average cost to the government of $360 each. The Veterans Administration, by comparison, pays just $185 per pump. With a little Google searching, the OIG found options available for an average of $164.

Had Medicare paid those sorts of prices, it could have saved $14 million during each of the five years the report examined.

So why is Medicare getting fleeced? While HHS uses a competitive bidding process to get the best possible price on some medical devices, penis pumps aren't one of them. Instead, Medicare pays for them using a set formula based on the historical prices, which presumably were much higher in the days before the little blue pill gave most patients a better option. The overpayment problem isn't new, either. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed fixing it all the way back in 1999.

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Dr. P. Silocybin said:

Where's the outrage from conservative pundits??!!!

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KremrBigSikter said:

From my thorough studies of american political culture I've learned that there's only two sides. People who dislike both sides are the most conservative of all or they like that Ronald Macdonald guy with the Love Blimp. Who, by the way, is so old and impotent that he must be in desperate need of a penis pump, but his anti-tax public image prohibits him from getting one, which means he can't get laid, making him even more shriveled up and cranky, in a feedback loop of sexless tax-hating.

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Mescalean said:

I want to know how many people have applied for these dick pumps.

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Distorted Vision said:

They didn't overpay, they pocketed the rest.

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