Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Inefficiency Wastes 200 Billion a Year
In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down a startling 2025 Government Accountability Office report revealing that federal agencies collectively lose roughly $200 billion annually to improper payments—overpayments, underpayments, fraud, and simple clerical errors. They focus on the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which account for more than half of that waste, and discuss why the payment error rate has barely budged despite a decade of reform efforts. Drawing on a specific case study from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, they explore how outdated payment systems, fragmented data…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.