Health care expenditures in the United States are enormous. In 1980, it was estimated that 251 billion dollars was spent for health care. In 1995, that figure had arisen to 1.008 trillion dollars. Medicare and Medicaid in 1995 alone had a collective budget of 274 billion dollars. Of this amount, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) estimates that waste, fraud, and abuse accounted for up to 10% of delivery costs. If we are to believe this figure, in the health care system as a whole, there could be over 100 billion dollars worth of fraudulent conduct transpiring annually with some 27.4 billion dollars involving Medicare or Medicaid fraud.
http://www.qui-tam-litigation.com/art3.htm