In WTF?! news ...
The state owes the federal government more than $541,000 for improperly reporting how much it paid for birth control drugs under the Medicaid program.According to a federal audit of the Medicaid family planning program, the state underreported how much it had received in drug company rebates. The federal government pays most of the state's Medicaid costs, and because the rebates were reported inaccurately, the federal government paid too much.
The state Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged that it made mistakes. In a December letter, DHHS secretary Lanier Cansler agreed to the repayment and said the problem uncovered in the audit would be fixed.
The state won't actually send the federal government money, according to DHHS. Rather, the federal Medicaid money the state receives will be reduced to pay the debt.
Read the rest of this article, by Lynn Bonner, here.
Allow me to repeat my rant from last week: Our government needs to clean house.
Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.