Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Efforts To Curb Medicare, Obamacare Fraud Draw Scrutiny
Medicare says its computerized fraud prevention system worked like a cybercharm last year, identifying $454 million in problematic payments and generating a financial return for the taxpayer of $10 for every dollar spent. But you can't take that to the bank: Most of the savings claimed by the Obama administration are unlikely to be realized, the Health and Human Services inspector general's office said in its own recent analysis. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/20)
A watchdog report on fictitious people signing up for ObamaCare has put renewed attention on the potential for fraud and abuse in the system. Congressional Republicans, who have long warned about a lack of safeguards in ObamaCare, pounced on Wednesday as the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the results of an investigation that found 11 of 12 fabricated people were able to enroll in coverage through the federal marketplace. (Sullivan, 7/19)
