It has long been clear that, when monitoring the activities of the federal government, one must often suspend natural expectations for sanity and integrity. For example, anyone who fails to pay taxes should be last in line to collect benefits paid for by taxpayers. But if the results of four recent reports are any indication, tax deadbeats are raking in federal cash.
Next Steps for Healthcare Reform
While no one can be sure of the outcome of the Supreme Court case on Obamacare, if the Court finds the law is unconstitutional, Congress will be forced to consider a new approach to providing more affordable access to healthcare for millions of Americans.
State and Local Government Defined Benefit Plans Are “Inherently Flawed”
On January 10, 2012, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) released a report on state and local government defined benefit pension plans in which he detailed the risks associated with the nation’s $4.4 trillion public pension debt, calling the defined benefit pensions structure “inherently flawed in the state and local government setting.” This massive liability is dangerous for taxpayers and could mean future cuts in services, reductions in benefits, higher taxes, or a combination of these less-than-desirable options.
Federal Contractor Pensions Protected at Taxpayers’ Expense
Taxpayers may be surprised to learn that they are currently bankrolling the retirement plans of profitable, private sector companies. With a record-breaking national debt, a sinking economy, and millions of Americans facing losses to their own retirement accounts, taxpayers should not be on the hook for tens of billions of dollars for private contractor pensions and benefits.
Congress and the Criminal CLASS
When President Obama signed his contentious healthcare bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), on March 23, 2010, his administration and a Democratic Congress had spent months convincing many lawmakers, pundits, and voters that expanding subsidized healthcare was not only the right thing to do, but that it would be beneficial for taxpayers in the long term. Fiscal conservatives (including Citizens Against Government Waste) howled that the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) 10-year, $210 billion deficit reduction estimate for the bill was wildly overstated. But the CBO is supposed to be a nonpartisan judge, and advocates on both sides of the aisle have long cited its findings as backing for a variety of causes. Accordingly, cries of fuzzy math or budget gimmickry fell on deaf ears.
Government in the Grocery Cart: $15 Billion to Influence Consumer Behavior
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is wrought with onerous mandates, tax increases, Medicare cuts, unfunded Medicaid expansions, and numerous budgetary gimmicks. One egregious provision in the PPACA included $500 million in FY 2010 for the Prevention and Public Health Fund. On February 9, 2011, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced an additional $750 million “investment” for FY 2011 in the Prevention and Public Health Fund. These new dollars will “help prevent tobacco use, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and cancer; increase immunizations; and empower individuals and communities with tools and resources for local prevention and health initiatives.”
Without Major Reforms, SSDI Program Headed for Insolvency
According to a June 14, 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund is on track to run out of money by 2018. Although the SSDI’s financial woes have been exacerbated by a dramatic increase in claims resulting from a weak economy, the program’s problems run much deeper.
Multi-Billion Dollar CMS Overpayments Continue
Healthcare, General Waste
The FAST Solution to Medicare and Medicaid Fraud
Each year, Americans lose tens of billions of their hard-earned tax dollars to Medicare and Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse. The most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicate that there was nearly $48 billion in improper payments for Medicare and $22.5 billion in the federal share of improper payments in Medicaid in fiscal year 2010. These figures are just the tip of the iceberg and do not include the countless, undocumented occurrences of theft carried out by organized crime rings aimed at defrauding Medicare, the stealing and selling of beneficiary numbers on the black market, and the creation of front groups and fake doctors’ offices that cheat the system at the taxpayers’ expense.
Does Obamacare Save or Cost Money?
The strange world of congressional budget scoring obscures whether Obamacare saves or costs money, but it also provides insight into why the federal government is in such a financial mess. Revenue and cost figures are thrown about in an attempt to justify each side’s position. Understanding the relevant facts provides a clearer picture of reality.