Republicans included significant savings in their budget plan through reductions in Medicaid spending. This incited outrage from the Democrats in the House who in one resounding chorus of indignation falsely claimed women and children would lose health care.

It turns out that simple fraud detection would yield all the savings needed. Official estimates show Medicaid had about $30 billion in improper payments last year,  but budget sleuths at the Paragon Health Institute and EPIC have pegged the real number at FIVE TIMES the official estimate:

The ACA’s expansion of Medicaid caused the improper payment rate in the program to quadruple. The improper payment rate went from 6 percent before the ACA expansion of the program took effect in 2014 to over 25 percent in the two cycles fully audited in 2019 and 2020.

Got that? In the last audited years, one of every four dollars spent was in error.  But no problem for Biden – he followed the Obama precedent and ended eligibility audits.