Obama and the IPERA

Today, President Obama will be signing a bill hailed as the pinnacle of what can be done in a bipartisan effort. The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) is set to reduce wasteful, improper payments by $50 billion dollars between now and 2012.

Quite a monumental and good first step to take for a government that is trillions of dollars in debt to the likes of China. But just what does it all mean?

It means that agencies will be able to look at a wider, more transparent Do Not Pay list to see "if an individual is alive or dead or if a contractor had been debarred." It means that agencies can conduct "annual risk assessments" to determine if programs are susceptible to significant improper payments." It means they can conduct Payment Recapture Audits to get back some of those overpayments. It means that that some of those recovered payments can be used by these agencies in a more wide ranging capacity than ever before. (Can we say fox guarding henhouse? Or whould that be duck guarding henhouse??) It means that if an agency doesn't follow these guidelines some heads will roll. (Oh joy, more unemployed ont he rolls.)

It also means even more government agencies to monitor and implement these rules among government agencies that will have to be created / expanded. Yep, we've even got a built in job stimulus with this legislation.

So where are they setting up the "pilot" program for this new legislation?

According to the Vice President, it will be implemented "first at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)."

Yes, let us nail all those senior citizens who are defrauding the US government. Let us nab and make scared all those contractors (doctors) in the system looking to scam and defraud.

But what does this mean on the OTHER end of the law? It means that more money will have to be spent adjusting to these new regulations. It means that in order to effectively adhere to these new rules, the "contractors" will have to find places to cut in their business (i.e. people) in order to pay for making sure all the right paperwork is filled out, all the "i"s dotted, all the "t"s crossed.

So, even though this is a good first step at moving toward a fiscally responsible government, they have accomplished much of the opposite. Just like every other bill this Democratic controlled government has managed to miss the whole point of fiscal responsibility. They add programs, regulations and agencies without considering the long term effect of what they do. Probably didn;t readthis bill either. Like they did with the Credit Card bill which doesn't do the things they originally claimed they were trying to get done.

And who "pays" for this $50 billion cost cutting measure in a multi-trillion dollar debt Administration? The people do. The senior citizens on fixed incomes, the one-job families who have found their spending power just got reduced even further, single parent homes that just found their job or their salary in limbo due to the economy / healtch care bill, etc impacting their employer. Its average Americans, which this Administration is quite out of touch with.

Sources

Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40111.html

White House Presidential document
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/financial_improper/11202009_improper_payments.pdf

White House memorandum
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/financial_improper/03102010_improper_payments.pdf