“Every year, Medicaid loses more money to waste and fraud than the GDP of a small country.”
“That’s among the takeaways from a new report from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The healthcare program for the poor made more than $86 billion in ‘improper payments’ this year. That’s one-fifth of its total spending.”
“Much of that waste stems from payments made to cover the care of people who have enrolled in Medicaid but are actually ineligible. Worse, all that fraudulent spending doesn’t even improve the health of the program’s beneficiaries…”
“The CMS report admits many states make no effort to verify whether enrollees are eligible for the program. ‘Insufficient documentation to affirmatively verify eligibility determinations’ is a primary driver behind improper payments, the agency says.”
“All this waste is expensive. Medicaid eats up about one-quarter of state budgets, according to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment Access Commission. It’s the second-biggest line item for most states…” Read the full article here.
Source: Medicaid’s Willful Waste Brings Woeful Want – By Sally Pipes, February 20, 2021. The Post-Journal.
