Medicare $24 Bill Overpayments

US Members of Congress have told the Clinton administration to beef upoversight of the Medicare program in light of a new audit showing up to $23 billion in incorrect payments made by Medicare last year alone, according to a report from Reuters. This represents up to 14% of Medicare spending.

Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a plan within 30 days to recover mispayments. He also said that the government should carry out additional audits and that the health industry, not taxpayers, should be forced to fund the audits.