How Government Auditors Miss Billions in Medicare Fraud

The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending · Jul 22, 2026 · 11m · transcript

Every year, the U.S. government loses an estimated $60 billion to Medicare fraud — and most of it is never recovered. Lucas and Luna unpack one specific case: a Miami durable medical equipment ring that billed for thousands of back braces for dead patients. They trace how the fraud works, why routine audits catch only about four percent of improper payments, and what a few state-level pilot programs are doing differently. The episode zooms in on a single number — $2.1 billion in 'unknown' overpayments flagged by a 2024 HHS OIG report — and follows the money from fake prescriptions…