{"id":2211937,"date":"2024-04-03T03:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T07:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-government-report-shows-trump-is-right-about-cutting-medicare-fraud\/"},"modified":"2024-04-03T03:46:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T07:46:27","slug":"new-government-report-shows-trump-is-right-about-cutting-medicare-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-government-report-shows-trump-is-right-about-cutting-medicare-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Government Report Confirms Trump&#8217;s Claims on Reducing Medicare Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-government-report-shows-trump-is-right-about-cutting-medicare-fraud%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2211937&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The summary of the provided content \u2063is about Joe \u2064Biden using the &#8220;Mediscare&#8221; attack\u2064 in response to Donald Trump&#8217;s comments on reducing improper and potentially fraudulent spending within Medicare and other programs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report highlights significant\u2064 improper payments within Medicare and Medicaid, shedding light \u2062on the need\u200b to address waste \u2063and \u200cinefficiency \u2062in these programs.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p><em>There they go again<\/em>. Following a series of comments by Donald Trump during a recent CNBC interview, Joe Biden has <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/4524498-biden-hits-trump-social-security-medicare-comments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brought out the \u201cMediscare\u201d attack<\/a> in recent weeks, trying to demagogue his way to reelection.<\/p>\n<p>But a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report illustrates the improper and potentially fraudulent spending within programs like Medicare and Medicaid. It should be enough to ask politicians like Biden, and even Trump, who can\u2019t wait to attack their opponents for wanting to \u201ccut\u201d Medicare: <em>So \u2026 you support maintaining health care fraud?<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-712863682\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0cbaa7ef7efe5d6602cd36faf9626de4 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0cbaa7ef7efe5d6602cd36faf9626de4\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Improper Payments Update<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Trump\u2019s initial comments will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/03\/14\/trump-social-security-medicare-00146953\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not win awards for clarity<\/a>, but the general tenor seems clear: \u201cFirst of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements \u2014 in terms of cutting \u2014 and also in terms of the theft and the bad management of entitlements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks later, when the GAO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/d24106927.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report on improper payments<\/a> for the fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30 comes out, guess which program tops the list? You guessed it. Medicare.<\/p>\n<p>In fiscal year 2023, the Medicare program reported a total of $51.1 billion in improper payments. A total of $31 billion in improper payments came from the traditional fee-for-service program, while $17 billion came from Medicare Advantage, in which private insurance companies contract with the federal government to provide Medicare benefits to seniors.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that government-run Medicare had nearly twice as many dollars worth of improper payments compared to the privately delivered benefit, in a year when Medicare Advantage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicare\/issue-brief\/medicare-advantage-in-2023-enrollment-update-and-key-trends\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overtook traditional Medicare<\/a> in enrolling a majority (51 percent) of eligible beneficiaries, shows a distinct contrast. Improper payments do not necessarily connote fraud. They could be a signal of payments in the wrong amount or without the proper documentation. That said, the disparity between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage suggests the government-run plan does not place a premium on processing claims correctly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6a54e47a6d135c3f55efbc0dc4114220 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6a54e47a6d135c3f55efbc0dc4114220\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Waste in Other Health Programs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Lest one thinks improper payments remain confined to Medicare, think again. According to the GAO survey, the Medicaid program closely trailed Medicare, with \u201conly\u201d $50 billion in improper payments during the last fiscal year. In many ways, this $50 billion represents an underestimate, because the prohibition on states disenrolling Medicaid participants during the Covid pandemic meant that last year\u2019s improper payment survey did not fully assess whether states are allowing ineligible individuals to remain on the rolls.<\/p>\n<p>Other health care programs received prominence in the GAO report, with Obamacare\u2019s premium subsidies reporting a 26.0 percent improper payment rate, and the State Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program having a 12.6 percent rate of improper payments. In fact, most of the programs spotlighted in the report were either pandemic-era programs <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/15\/investigation-finds-400-billion-was-stolen-or-wasted-in-covid-fraudsters-great-grift\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rife with fraud<\/a> (e.g., <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/09\/20\/new-report-nearly-triples-estimated-amount-covid-fraudsters-stole-in-unemployment-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unemployment benefits<\/a>, the Paycheck Protection Program, etc.) or health care programs.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rebut the <\/strong>\u2018<strong>Mediscare\u2019 Attacks<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As unpopular as it is to say, reducing, or even eliminating, improper payments won\u2019t solve all the structural problems that programs like Medicare face. But pointing out the waste and ineffective bureaucracy in these programs, and forcing leftist politicians to defend their rhetoric, will show the silliness behind their attacks.<\/p>\n<p>When someone, including Donald Trump, says they won\u2019t \u201ccut\u201d Medicare, ask them: Does that include fraud too? Does making billionaires like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett pay more for their benefits constitute a \u201ccut\u201d to seniors?<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5f379501ce01704ac0845a03282781e3 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5f379501ce01704ac0845a03282781e3\"><\/div>\n<p>For conservatives, making the left defend their absurd positions, such as no reductions in Medicare spending ever, under any circumstance, should help to spark the more realistic conversation that our entire country needs to have about the benefits that our politicians have promised to generations of seniors, even though we cannot afford them in their current form.<\/p>\n<p>Remember: For years, Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/02\/08\/joe-biden-tried-multiple-times-to-cut-medicare-and-social-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">supported reductions in Medicare and Social Security<\/a> benefits. He voted against a debt limit increase because it did not freeze Medicare and Social Security spending. While in the Senate, he even introduced a bill to sunset every federal program \u2014 including Medicare and Social Security \u2014 every four years. He also took it upon himself to rent a mansion while <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/19\/his-returns-show-joe-biden-has-dodged-half-a-million-in-taxes-while-urging-tax-increases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dodging over $500,000<\/a> in Medicare and Obamacare taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives, and the American people in general, should take no lessons from Joe Biden when it comes to preserving Medicare and Social Security. Instead, politicians from both parties should stop the ridiculous rhetoric and start doing what it takes \u2014 beginning with cracking down on fraud \u2014 to make the programs solvent and sustainable in the long term.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4543e598615f43be2877a1a1790fb45d fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4543e598615f43be2877a1a1790fb45d\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to recent comments made by Donald Trump in a CNBC interview, Joe Biden has revived the &#8220;Mediscare&#8221; attack to discredit his opponent. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report highlights questionable spending in Medicare and other programs, shedding light on potential fraud<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2211938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/48842498433_1fd02cc6e1_o.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2211937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/48842498433_1fd02cc6e1_o.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}