CRACKDOWN ON MEDIA FRAUD PAYS OFF

Government waste seems, at times to be a bottomless pit. And a fairly constant flow of stories of how millions of dollars are misspent by the federal government do little to build up the confidence of American taxpayers.

Two stories about Medicare in the past week give us both a reminder of the problem and a glimmer of hope.

The House Commerce Committee reported that doctors are profiting by purchasing drugs at promotional rates offered by pharmaceutical companies and are then reimbursed by Medicare at much higher rates. While this practice is legal, the committee said, Medicare patients rarely share in such low-cost deals. And hasn't that been a big topic during this presidential campaign?

The good news is that Medicare is aware of fraud within the system and is trying to do something about it. A report for 1998, the most recent figures available, show that Medicare's crackdown on fraud has contributed to a 2.5 percent growth in spending while private health-care spending rose by 6.9 percent.

Such savings through fraud detection and penalties is contributing to Medicare's viability, officials say and that is good news indeed.