GAO Reports on Medicare Improper Payments Estimate for 2007

On January 23, 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report indicating that the major executive branch agencies report a total improper payments estimate of $55 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2007.  In the report, the fee-for-service component of the Medicaid program has an improper payment estimate of $12.9 billion, which is the largest estimate for FY 2007.  The fee-for-service component of the Medicare program follows with the third largest total improper payments estimate of $10.8 billion.   However, the report does not include estimates for 14 Federal programs with outlays totaling about $170 billion for FY 2007.   Among the Federal programs without estimates are the Medicare Advantage program and Medicare prescription drug benefit with combined total outlays of about $124.4 billion for FY 2007.