Fraud a Minor Factor in Virginia Medicaid Spending

A piece of good news on the government efficiency front: Medicaid fraud by recipients and providers cost the General Fun only $6.1 million in Fiscal 2009, according to a report published by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).

The less-than-g0od news is that payments to individuals improperly enrolled in Medicaid amounted to beween $18 million and $263 million, based on federal review of Virginia’s eligibility determination process. Assuming the real number lies between the two extremes, that’s a relatively small portion of Virginia’s Medicaid budget, which in fiscal 2011 was $7.2 billion.

Still, any fraud is too much, and JLARC thinks performance can be improved. States the report: “Additional investments are needed to reduce future errors through improved State oversight of local departments of social services, modernized information technology, and provision of additional training to caseworkers.”

— JAB


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Comments

4 responses to “Fraud a Minor Factor in Virginia Medicaid Spending”

  1. I suspect that rate is similar to private health care also.

    what this does is certainly dent the claim that Medaid is rife with waste and fraud and THAT’s the reason it’s so costly.

    we’re finding out that the reason it is so costly is that many folks do not have health insurance AND the WAY our system works “incentivizes” costly care for both private and public plans.

  2. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    So, this rates 40 something Glock-carrying Cuccinelli cops?

    1. A legitimate question. It does seem like overkill. I’d like to know what Cuccinelli’s office has to say.

  3. DJRippert Avatar

    Cuccinelli is turning out to be considerably crazier than I had expected. His primary campaign against Bill Bolling ought to be one for the ages.

    Do Virginia’s Democrats have enough political sense to pick a single candidate to run for governor against the impending Cuccinelli – Bolling fracas?

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