It’s only (somebody else’s) money. Justin Bogie writes:
According to the Government Accountability Office, in 2018, the federal government made nearly $150 billion in improper payments.
This included $16 billion from the earned income tax credit, $36 billion from Medicaid, more than $3 billion from food stamps, and just shy of $10 billion from Medicare. Especially embarrassing was Social Security paying nearly $1 billion in benefits to dead people. [...]
According to Forbes, $1.2 trillion of improper payments have been made since 2004.
Examples abound. Last year, $1.77 billion in food stamps were improperly paid because recipients failed to provide accurate and timely information, which meant the government had little way to verify if those food stamps reached people who actually needed them.
Another $1.5 billion was improperly paid because state or local administrators didn’t coordinate with each other about the federal benefits households receive. [...]
The Heritage Foundation’s “Blueprint for Balance” [...] details ways to reduce improper payments. The government could save more than a $500 million by allowing the Social Security Administration to use commercial databases for recipient verification.
A 2015 Social Security Administration inspector general’s report found there to be 6.5 million active Social Security numbers for people over the age of 112. As of July 8, there were only known to be 33 people in the world that are 112 or older.
Ending “double dipping” into Social Security Disability Insurance and unemployment insurance would save $25.4 billion over 10 years, and ensuring that accidental overpayments in Social Security benefits are paid back in a timely manner would save $2.5 billion in 2020.
[Justin Bogie, “Improper Payments Are Costing Taxpayer a Fortune,” The Daily Signal, July 16]
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