Details of President Obama’s budget proposal for FY 2010 will be unveiled this Thursday, and early reports indicate there will be some new proposals for Medicare & Medicaid.
One proposal sparking some interest is the president’s “program integrity” measure, which would allocate $13.7 billion over the next five years to increase oversight of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. According to Obama Administration estimates, for every dollar spent by the Department of Heath and Human Services investigating and preventing healthcare fraud, the government will save $1.60.
Additionally, the government plans to spend a further $4.3 billion investigating fraudulent disabilities claims filed under Social Security. Obama’s budget officers estimate that $11 can be saved for every $1 invested. Obama hopes these and other moves will render savings of $35 billion over the next five years.
