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| Geo... |
 Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:51 am |
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/18/government.improper.payments/index.html
Yeah, these clowns can handle healthcare for you.....LOL!!!!
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White House reports billions of improper payments in 2009
By Tom Cohen, CNN
November 18, 2009 1:44 a.m. EST
Washington (CNN) -- The federal government made $98 billion in
improper payments in fiscal 2009, and President Obama will issue an
executive order in coming days to combat the problem, his budget
director announced Tuesday.
The 2009 total for improper payments -- from outright fraud to
misdirected reimbursements due to factors such as an illegible
doctor's signature -- was a 37.5 percent increase over the $72 billion
in 2008, according to figures provided by Peter Orszag, director of
the White House Office of Management and Budget.
In an evening media briefing, Orszag was unable to provide an overall
figure for what percentage of the bad payments was due to fraud. He
also lacked a breakdown on how much of the total improper payments
involved spending on Obama's $787 billion economic recovery package
passed in February.
Orszag said the executive order coming in the next week will promote
transparency, strengthen accountability and provide incentives to
improve the government payment process, Orszag said.
"Our goal is to make sure the right person or entity gets the right
amount at the right time," he said.
The increase in the total over the previous year was due in part to
improved detection through stricter and expanded accounting methods,
Orszag said.
For example, $24 billion of improper payments in the Medicare fee-for-
service health care program for senior citizens represented 7.8
percent of total payments to the program, compared to 3.6 percent in
improper payments for the program a year earlier, he said.
This year, Orszag said, an improper doctor's signature was "much more
likely" to trigger an improper payment than in 2008.
Overall, improper payments for the Medicare fee-for-service program
and the Medicare Advantage accounted for $36 billion, or more than a
third of the 2009 total.
Obama and Democratic leaders say that wiping out waste and fraud in
Medicare, including the elimination of more than $100 billion in
government subsidies for the Medicare Advantage program in which
private insurers supplement standard Medicare coverage, will reduce
government health care costs by several hundred billion dollars.
Obama's executive order will include setting up Web site dashboards
for each agency to provide the public with "easy-to-follow"
information on improper payments, including tracking error rates and
identifying responsible officials, Orszag said.
It also will designate Senate-appointed officials in each agency to be
accountable for combating improper payments, and require specific
plans for reducing improper payments when any agency shows an increase
two years in a row, according to Orszag.
Incentives in the executive order will reward states, local
communities and other organizations for reducing improper payments and
increase penalties for contractors that fail to report problems such
as receiving double payments for work done or getting paid despite
doing no work, Orszag said.
He cited progress already in new efforts to reduce bad payments,
including pilot programs in three states that have recovered $9
million in improper Medicare payments. The recovery audit program will
be expanded to all 50 states, Orszag said. In addition, Orszag noted
the administration requested $1.9 billion in federal funds to bolster
accounting and monitoring of government spending.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, said in a statement Tuesday night that
the news "shows that we have a lot to do here in the federal
government when it comes professionalizing financial management and
rooting out waste."
"It goes without saying that these results would be completely
unacceptable in the private sector, as they should be in government,
especially at a time of record deficits," Carper continued. "That
said, there is a silver lining. More agencies are becoming better at
estimating and identifying costly mistakes."
In total, Orszag listed 99 agencies and programs that received $1.98
trillion in 2009, with $98 billion of the money -- or 5 percent -- in
improper payments.
Some of the larger figures for improper payments were:
• $24 billion for Medicare fee-for service, out of a total of $308
billion
• $18 billion for Medicaid health care for the poor, out of a total of
$188 billion
• $12 billion for Medicaid Advantage, out of a total of $77 billion
• $12 billion for unemployment insurance, out of a total of $119
billion
• $12 billion for the Earned Income Tax Credit, out of a total of $48
billion |
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