Report Says Billions Lost to Fraud as Federal Programs Flow Through States
By Brett Rowland | Just the News
Programs in question include Medicaid, food stamps and disaster relief.
Twenty federal programs that route nearly $1.1 trillion through state governments – including Medicaid, SNAP and disaster relief – are vulnerable to fraud because of how the money is distributed, the Government Accountability Office reports.
The money rarely goes straight from Washington to a recipient. It passes through states, then often to subrecipients, contractors and subcontractors. Every layer, GAO found, adds another entry point for fraud while making oversight harder to enforce.
The report is the first in a planned GAO series examining fraud in state-administered programs. It reaffirms the agency's estimate that the government loses between $233 bi...