No wonder the Medicaid system has so many critics in South Carolina. During the year that ended September 2010, about $490 million in public money was paid in error by the state.
The program intended to help the neediest was apparently helping others, too. Meanwhile, some of the people who needed help were not given it.
According to a recently released federal audit, an estimated 10.7 percent of South Carolinians approved for Medicaid should have been ruled ineligible. Then there were overpayments to hospitals and behavioral health providers due to coding errors.