Just before the legislature left town the blog that promotes Senator Phil Berger reported hundreds of dead people were collecting Medicaid and that fraud’s gotten so bad even the Obama Administration wants a crackdown – but the warning came too late: The Honorables were headed for the exits and Phil Berger’s Medicaid Czar – Senator Ralph Hise the Mountain Statistician – hadn’t put a single vigilante to work rooting out fraud.

Or passed a single bill to reduce the number of people who’re eligible for Medicaid.

Or put a limit on even one of the types of care – like dental checkups – Medicaid pays for.

Politically, reducing the number of people eligible for Medicaid would have been a risky proposition. But it would also have been the surest way to cut spending.

Instead the Medicaid Czar made a bet on Corporate MCOs (or Medicaid HMOs), putting them in charge of Medicaid – which was sort of like saying, I’m going to hire a Wall Street corporation. That’s sure to save money.

Which, of course, was a shaky proposition.

But looked at another way it had two advantages: The Czar avoided the big risk. And while the government bureaucrats who run Medicaid don’t tend to contribute much to politicians, Wall Street corporations do.