According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) released last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may have made $90 million worth of “questionable” payments to Medicare Part D contractors hired to help launch the program. (Kaiser Network)
Some payments didn’t comply with terms of the contracts, the GAO found. Jeff Nelligan, CMS spokesperson, said launching the Part D program “required some contract decisions outside of standard policy.” You may download the 74-page report here (PDF).
GAO issued a second report which revealed that states covering adults under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are more likely to have budget shortfalls than states that do not. Jocelyn Guyer, a deputy executive director of the Center for Women and Families at Georgetown University, told CQ HealthBeat that the Clinton and Bush adminstrations encouraged states to cover adults under the program.
For more information, download the 50-page report here (PDF).