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RayAmerica says

If there is so much money in waste/fraud/abuse in the Medicare system, then why do we continue to let it happen? Why are we waiting so long to deal with it?

Common Scams:
Equipment companies: they get a list of Medicare recipients (or cold call people) and send them equipment they didn't order. It's sent in the mail, can't reasonably be returned, and the companies change their addresses frequently so they're hard to catch.

Diabetic supplies - commercials like Wilford Brimley's classic offer "free" supplies, mail them to the patient and charge Medicare the max amount. They are on an automatic system where the supplies are sent every month, whether the patient needs them or not. IMHO supplies should be obtained from the local pharmacy so that the patient's supplies & meds are monitored.

Skilled Nursing Facilities, Therapy providers, home health companies charging for patients who probably don't need the care. Notes are "fudged" and/or doctored to make patients look sicker than they are.

Medical care provided that the patient doesn't need - extra tests, labs, treatments, etc.

Hospices signing on anyone they can, rather than discharging the patient if he/she doesn't appear to get better they keep them on service for several months. One nationwide hospice paid millions in fines for this practice, as well as refusing to allow patients to transfer to other hospices and refusing to allow them to "fire" the hospice.

The problem is that there are millions of providers and audits are conducted on a percentage basis. As quickly as one company is caught, others spring up. With the recession, there are cutbacks in the state-run programs the provide oversight. These providers give others a bad reputation, and also take advantage of seniors who don't understand the system.

Nomograph says

The purpose of Medicare is to provide medical care to elderly recipients,

I thought the purpose was to buy votes with other peoples money.