White House: Wasteful Overpayments Cut

By ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON – The White House budget office is giving the government higher marks for reducing improper benefit payments for programs such as Medicare, food stamps and unemployment insurance, cutting such overpayments by $7.8 billion from 2004 levels.

The agency boasting the greatest improvement was the Department of Health and Human Services, which used stricter documentation rules to decrease improper Medicare payments by more than $9 billion. That savings far exceeds those produced by all other agencies combined.

But more progress needs to be made in curbing waste in Social Security and the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax cut paid to the working poor, according to an Office of Management and Budget report.

Social Security overpayments increased by about $2 billion to $3.7 billion and improper EITC refunds went up by perhaps $1 billion, though that program is more difficult to estimate.

Even with the overall improvements, OMB estimates $37.3 billion in taxpayer funds went out in 2005 to people wrongly claiming eligibility for benefit programs. Still, that’s 17 percent less than 2004.

The OMB report highlights the less-publicized “management” side of the budget office’s portfolio. President Bush has an ongoing management agenda that grades Cabinet departments on their performances in areas such as financial practices, implementing electronic government plans and competitive sourcing.

“Federal employees are improving the way their agencies work,” said OMB Deputy Director for Management Clay Johnson. “They are clearly defining what their management practices should be, and the benefits that should result from these new practices, and then being held accountable for achieving them. With clarity and transparency, you can get accountability; and with accountability, you get results.”