by Bryan Fischer, AFA Director of Issue Analysis

Democrats are pretty much abandoning the use of the term "public option" to describe their vision of a government-run health insurance program, and have taken to calling it "Medicare for Everyone."

Whoops. As Newsbusters reports, according to CBS's "60 Minutes" news program, Medicare fraudsters are ripping off the American taxpayer - that's you and me - to the tune of $60 billion a year.

According to Steve Kroft, ripping off a government-run, taxpayer-funded health insurance program "has become one of, if not the most profitable crimes in America."

In fact, according to the FBI - and you will find this hard to believe - Medicare fraud is now a bigger business in south Florida than the drug trade.

Apparently failing to realize that he's shooting Obama's plan in both feet, Kroft adds that what he discovered raises "troubling questions about our governnment's ability to manage a medical bureaucracy." Give the man the British Dry Humor Award for understatement of the year.

Here's an excerpt from Kroft's interview with Brian Waterman of the FBI and Kirk Ogrosky of the Justice Department:

BRIAN WATERMAN, FBI: There's a healthcare fraud industry where people do nothing but recruit patients, get patient lists, find doctors, look on the Internet, find different scams. There are entire groups and entire organizations of people that are dedicated to nothing but committing fraud, finding a better way to steal from Medicare

KROFT: Is the Medicare fraud business bigger than the drug business in Miami now?

KIRK OGROSKY, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: I think it's way bigger.

KROFT: What changed?

OGROSKY: The criminals changed...

WATERMAN: Sophistication.

OGROSKY: They've figured out that rather than stealing $100,000 or $200,000, they can steal $100 million. We have seen cases in the last six, eight months that involve a couple of guys that if they weren't stealing from Medicare might be stealing your car.

WATERMAN: You know, we were the king of the drugs in the '80s. We're king of healthcare fraud in the '90s and the 2000's.

All you need is a phony storefront address, a list of Medicare patients, which can be purchased for as little as $10 a name, and you're in business. The shysters start billing Medicare ridiculous amounts of money for such things as wheelchairs, air mattresses and artificial arms and legs, and Medicare obediently pays up, required by law to satisfy claims within 15 to 30 days.

Since there are only enough auditors to check a tiny percentage of the charges for legitimacy, it's "like taking candy from a baby," according to one man who bilked Medicare for a cool $20 million.

Bottom line: if you think things are bad now, just wait until the president and the Democrats turn our entire health care industry into one giant Medicare slot machine for scam artists. You ain't seen nothing yet.