The Nation - News from April 14, 1986

Hospitals throughout the United States overcharged the federal government, often deliberately, by more than $170 million for care for elderly Medicare patients in 1984 and 1985, investigations have found. But officials of the Health and Human Services Department said the agency will not try to recoup its excess payments to hospitals because of difficulties involved. Those charges were not abuse or fraud, the officials said, and ultimately will be borne by taxpayers.