Waste, fraud, abuse…budget cutters of old used these three words to describe the federal government's poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Such charges were frequently derided as the rumblings of anti-government know-nothings. However, the evidence continues to mount that waste, fraud, and abuse are standard features of federal spending.
And according to the Government Accountability Office, the bureaucracy is uninterested in stopping the fleecing of taxpayers.
In this Politico story, we are reminded of a 2022 GAO report that found that the federal employee health plan was being ripped off to the tune of $3 billion per year. And the agency charged with running the program – the Office of Personnel Management – simply couldn't be bothered to make sure those employees claiming dependents on their health plan were actually entitled to the coverage:
The Office of Personnel Management, which oversees health insurance for 8 million federal workers and their families at a cost of more than $60 billion a year, has never checked the eligibility of those on its rolls, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office, which has been pushing OPM for years to improve its oversight. And that failure is costing taxpayers billions and raising premiums for millions of civil servants.
Surely OPM has made fixing this a top priority…right? Nope:
While OPM might claim that addressing ineligibility is a priority, “they certainly don't act like it,” said Seto Bagdoyan, a director on GAO's forensic audits and investigative service team who authored the 2022 report. Bagdoyan said congressional action might be the only way to force OPM to address the issue.
“With what we found to be OPM's passivity in its oversight role, we essentially concluded that program integrity and managing risk are not apparent priorities for OPM,” Bagdoyan said.
Which would and should make this a major scandal – one that puts OPM leaders under a congressional spotlight for acting like potted plants on this matter.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott intends to forward legislation that would make the GAO's recommendations legally binding.
Not a moment too soon, because judging from the OPM's response to the GAO report and inspector general information, the agency intends to remain as close to passive as possible (especially in an election year).
Would that House Republicans, rather than cosplay their way through assorted impeachment plays, spent even half that time an energy on this issue, which is of genuine interest, and real budgetary significance, to the American taxpayer.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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