Medicaid and Medicare accounted for 43% of improper payments last year, but problems were found across the board. Dead people received $295 million, mostly from pension benefits the Office of Personnel Management sent to former federal workers who had passed away. Prisoners were paid $171 million.
The Internal Revenue Service spent $25 billion doling out fraudulent and mistaken tax credits, with some IRS programs reporting mistake rates above 30%.
The issue is not new, but it is getting progressively worse. Barack Obama wasted roughly 4% of his spending on improper payments in his second term. Donald Trump wasted roughly 5%, and Biden is approaching 6%.
Hellbound and Down 