Some numbers are easy to absorb and understand. Others, like the following, take just a second to comprehend: In 2009, Medicare fraud and billing errors cost the government more than $36 billion.

That astronomical figure comes courtesy of the Economist magazine, which states that, when health care fraud and not mere sloppiness accounts for the lost money, the scam typically involves a health-care provider - which might even be bogus - billing the government for services that are either not needed or even non-existent.

This is big in Texas. It is far bigger in Florida, where mental-health clinics alone are alleged to have submitted $421 million in Medicare bills last year, a figure that exceeds by four times the amount billed from Texas.

New federal law gives sharpened teeth to government agencies fighting the health care fraud that the Economist calls "mind-boggling." Saying that, "We're going to attack fraud at every stage of the process," Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius points to the enforcement tools in the recently enacted Affordable Care Act. Those include longer prison sentences for fraud conviction and stronger government oversight of companies participating in Medicare and Medicaid.

The government has reportedly made inroads into fraud recovery, with one report noting $2.5 billion restored last year to the Medicare trust fund. A report from the Huffington Post notes new fraud investigatory tools that have led to "a rising number of criminal prosecutions and the return of more stolen money to the government."

Related Resource: www.all247news.com "Medicare Fraud: Updates on Government's Efforts to Recover Money Lost to Scam Artists" August 15, 2010