CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE 10/31/2015

Porker of the Month: CMS Acting Commissioner Slavitt Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Commissioner Andy Slavitt Porker of the Month for his agency’s approval of questionable and somewhat unprecedented accounting procedures to obscure the reckless use of taxpayer money to prop up the failed Obamacare state CO-OPs. Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OPs) were created under Obamacare as a compromise to placate certain Democratic senators who preferred a government-run option for healthcare reform. Out of the 23 CO-OPs that were created, nine have either closed their doors or will do so by the end of the year, leaving thousands of Americans scrambling for new health insurance. CMS allocated $2.4 billion in start-up loans for the 23 CO-OPs. Now that nine have failed, taxpayers have lost approximately $983 million, or 41 percent, of the total amount. Additionally, a July 30 Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s report revealed that 22 of 23 CO-OPs lost money in 2014. For allowing his agency to exacerbate the CO-OP boondoggle through a shaky accounting scheme, CMS Acting Commissioner Slavitt is the October Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month. CCAGW Pans Backroom Budget Deal The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) this month announced its opposition to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 – the budget deal struck between Republican congressional leaders and President Obama aimed at averting a government shutdown and forestalling a debt crisis. The 2015 Budget Act is the latest in a long line of last-minute, backroom deals that will end up costing taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, as spending goes up but the planned offsets fall short. The act would not only suspend the debt ceiling through March, 2017, but also raise the spending caps established by the 2011 Budget Control Act by another $80 billion over the next two years.  The increase would be split equally between defense and non-defense programs, yet there has been no explanation as to why this amount of money is needed nor any details about how and where it will be spent.  CCAGW President Tom Schatz stated, “It is unacceptable for Congress to again and again fail to finish its basic budget work on time and then work out a backroom deal to rationalize increased spending.” Read more about the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 CAGW Finds Cause for Optimism/Concern in RAC Report On October 15, CMS released its annual report, Recovery Auditing in Medicare for Fiscal Year 2014, which details the performance of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program. Avid readers of “eNews” know that CAGW has long supported the RAC program as a means to curtail Medicare fraud. The good news for taxpayers: RACs returned $1.6 billion to the Medicare Trust Fund in fiscal year (FY) 2014, while maintaining a 96 percent accuracy rate. Since the RAC program was implemented nationwide in January, 2010, it has returned more than $11.3 billion to the Trust Fund. While that total is impressive, the bad news for taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries is that until CMS and Congress suspended certain RAC audits in October, 2013, RACs were recovering $1 billion per quarter, or $4 billion annually, which is 60 percent greater than the FY 2014 figure. “Congress and CMS need to put the RACs back to work,” declared CAGW Vice President for Policy & Communications Leslie Paige. “Until they do, any rhetoric taxpayers hear about cutting waste … is hypocritical hyperbole.” Read more about the success of the RAC program. CAGW Goes Trick-or-Treating Just in time for Halloween, CAGW’s annual edition of Washington’s Tricks and Treats for Taxpayers features an assortment of the federal government’s fiscal woes and wonders, both sinister and satisfyingly sweet. Everyone’s entitled to at least one good scare this Halloween, so prepare to be afraid. Be very afraid ... Read a list of the Tricks and Treats that Washington has delivered for taxpayers in 2015.