President Obama told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday that immigration reform would be one of his top priorities. His comments coincide with a new report by Health and Human Services, which concludes that illegal immigrants and prison inmates have received more than $120 million in Medicare services from 2009-2011, even though they are ineligible for the program.
Nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants made $91.6 million in fraudulent claims for Medicare services over the report’s three-year duration.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the Inspector General indicated that retrieving the money might not be feasible. The report reads: “[CMS] is committed to recovering overpayments … but it must take into account the cost benefit of recoupment activities, including potential appeal costs and the cost of manually reopening these claims.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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