You're guessing. It's really as simple as that. You have no reliable source of data (that you've shown) that says where waste is. At first you said 1%, then you say 7% of welfare programs are fraudulent. Both are complete wild guesses, as you stated. So what is it you want from me? You want me to confirm your wild guesses? I have my own, and they don't meet with your estimates. So until you can show something that meets with logic, your argument is easy to dismiss, and I will do just that.
To provide some information on fraud and abuse levels of some of the U.S. public assistance programs, I am providing some details given at a recent North Carolina conference for IT / Legal people involved in program enforcement. The key focus of this presentation was for our state Medicaid/Medicare fraud investigation office to hark their accomplishments. - Over 95% of Medicaid fraud involves service providers and not recipients. According to the CBO the percentage of fraud & abuse was 20.2% in 2008 â down to 11.8% in 2011 and 7.9% in 2012. - TANF (Welfare) â 5% fraud. Top cause is improper information on applications regarding assets and income. - Food Stamps (SNAP) â 12% fraud. Top cause is recipients re-selling benefits. - Section 8 Housing (No fraud % given). Top cause is people not on the lease living in the housing. (My note - usually these are boyfriends with previous criminal convictions who are not eligible to live in the housing. Also their income would push the family out of the eligibility range.) FRLP (Free and Reduced Lunch Programs) â 6% fraud. Improper application information on family income. Children Medical Programs â 3% fraud - Improper application information on income level. Unemployment â 4% fraud â Individuals working off-the-book jobs while still receiving unemployment benefits. WIC (Women, Infants, Children) â under 1% fraud â tight eligibility criteria keeps fraud minimal. Heating Assistance â Under 2% fraud in states where the assistance is paid directly to the utility. Fraud usually due to improper income information on the application, or continuing in the program after income increases. SSI / SS Disability â Abuse is increasing greatly since 2008 â especially SS Disability. No exact figures provided. (My note: This is not surprising since we have lawyers on T.V. pitching how they can get you onto SS Disability. I believe this is the fastest growing fraud segment). EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) â No information given.
Thank you for the info. Very interesting and it bolsters my WAG of 7% fraud in the social services overall. Also, the provider fraud is not the one that is railed against by people like lucrum who are mostly fixated on the leeches that don't want to work. Like I said. 7% of 12 % is 1% of the total US budget. But don't worry Tsing Tao.....no bowing needed. Makes me blush.
You speak of that which you know not. I'm opposed to ALL fraud and waste. Regardless of who is to blame. As far as I'm concerned willful fraudulent providers should be rounded up and shot.
Very well stated. If only democrats agreed. Instead they make it easier to get on benefits and remove the work requirement.
Typical liberal answer. Handwringing over subsidizing and thus encouraging irresponsible behavior, but ends up calling for throwing more good money after bad. When is something ever a big enough failure that liberals would say "Enough." Instead they always want to throw more money at the problem, as if doubling down on a proven failed strategy will work.
Don't make it appear like you were correct about anything. You said 1% of SNAP fraud was the cost to the budget. Maybe you should have specified which budget you were talking about (a convenient mishap on your part). 12% of snap fraud is 12% (more or less) of the SNAP budget. Why would we consider the total budget and compare apples to oranges? Remember, I asked: "Do you have a source that states that food stamp abuse is limited to about 1%? Or are you pulling that number out of your..." As usual, you were outed for faulty assumptions. Getting you to own up to it, well...we've seen how much that has happened in the past.