Improper Medicare-Medicaid Payments Up 20%; $77.4B in FY14

By Terence P. Jeffrey March 17, 2015

Medicare and Medicaid made a combined $77.4 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2014, a 20.4 percent increase from fiscal 2013, according to data published by the Government Accountability Office and the federal paymentaccuracy.gov website. In fiscal 2013, Medicare and Medicaid made 64.3 billion in improper payments, according to the paymentaccuracy.gov website.

The $77.4 billion in improper payments that Medicare and Medicaid made in fiscal 2014 made up about 62.07 percent of the $124.7 billion total in improper payments for the year reported by the GAO.

The 64.3 billion in improper payments the Medicare and Medicaid made in fiscal 2013 made up about 60.8 percent of the $105.8 billion improper payments for that year.

In a statement presented to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee yesterday, the GAO listed the 12 government programs that made the largest amount in improper payments in fiscal 2014. Three of the top four were Medicare or Medicaid programs.

The Top 12 programs for improper payments in FY 2014 were:.....To Read More...