Improper payments reduced by $17.6 billion, White House says

This cut in wasteful or improper payments in social welfare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, applies to the year ending Sept. 30.

Bloomberg: White House Says U.S. Reduced Improper Payments By $17.6 Billion
The Obama administration said it cut wasteful or improper payments in social and welfare programs by almost $18 billion in the year that ended Sept. 30. The government reduced errors in Medicare and Medicaid payments, Pell Grant student loans and the Agriculture Department's food stamp program, the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. As a result, the budget office said savings reached $17.6 billion in fiscal 2011 and, over the past two years, total more than $20 billion (Runningen, 11/15).

Modern Healthcare: White House Cites Progress On Payment Errors
Various Medicare and Medicaid auditing initiatives have sharply lowered erroneous excess payments under the programs over the past three years, according to the Obama administration, and new initiatives will lower such mistaken spending further. Federal waste reduction measures have led to Medicare's overall error rate falling to 8.6 percent in 2011 from 10.2 percent in 2010, federal officials announced today. Specifically, Medicare's fee-for-service error rate fell to 8.6 percent from 9.1 percent last year, and Part D reported a first-time composite error rate of 3.2 percent, well below the government average (Daly, 11/15).

National Journal: White House Announces $18 Billion Savings From Improper Payments
Just eight days before the super committee's deadline to present a deficit proposal, the White House made a well-timed announcement: Executive efforts have saved $18 billion this year in wasteful spending by social programs. Federal agencies tracked down and brought back payments to wrongful beneficiaries of Medicaid, Medicare, Pell Grant and SNAP (formerly food stamps) programs -; prying them, at times, from their cold dead fingers. According to Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew, some agencies were writing checks to deceased Americans. Others went to convicted felons (Edwards, 11/15).