Fraud By The Numbers

Fraud By The Numbers Series

  • The Billions Lost to Healthcare Fraud

    The Government Accountability Office reports that in fiscal year 2019, approximately $46.2 billion in improper payments were made in the Medicare program. And this may even be a conservative estimate! As we will discuss in a future post, other experts have opined that the amount lost to improper payments is two to three times the…

  • Let’s Dive Into Government-Funded Healthcare Programs

    For the next few days, we are going to discuss one of the biggest sources of government spending: healthcare. In particular, we are going to drill down on numbers associated with Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-sponsored healthcare programs. The U.S. Government spent $1.3 trillion on Medicare in fiscal year 2020, making it by far the…

  • Looking at the Cost of Air Pollution on Clean Air Day

    Today is September 7, recognized as Clean Air Day. Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and respiratory infections.[1] That is the population of Bulgaria,[2] Tennessee,[3] or Los Angeles and Chicago.[4] In addition to…

  • How Many Lawyers Are Involved in Prosecuting False Claims Act Cases?

    Today, Labor Day, is an appropriate moment to review the work required and resources deployed to handle major fraud cases, such as those filed under the False Claims Act. Since a False Claims Act case is a filing with a court, we are going to analyze the number of lawyers involved in prosecuting False Claims…

  • False Claims Act Enforcement: $20 Returned for Every $1 Spent

    The False Claims Act and the mechanism that incentivizes integrity by rewarding whistleblowers who come forward with information about fraud on the government, is a great investment. How good is the rate of return on investment? According to a study conducted by Jack A. Mayer, prepared for Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund in 2013 that…

  • Looking at $3.2 Trillion in State & Local Government Spending

    In the United States, a substantial portion of government functions are carried out by state governments. In fiscal year 2019, the total amount of state government spending (including all 50 states and the District of Columbia) was about $1.5 trillion. This is about 7% of the U.S. GDP, less than the federal government’s 20% share…

  • How Much Do We Lose to Fraud?

  • Billions Are Lost to Fraud

    Today we’re going to examine the relationship between government expenditures and the amount recovered under the False Claims Act. Examining reported numbers since Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, DOJ recoveries under the False Claims Act have remained relatively constant, ranging from $2 billion to $6 billion, while federal spending has been steadily increasing. In FY11, for…

  • Billions in False Claims Act Recoveries

    Welcome to Fraud By the Numbers! Since the Department of Justice (DOJ) has primary responsibility for enforcing the country’s federal whistleblower law, The False Claims Act, we are going to start by analyzing some key numbers in the DOJ’s annual report. Each year, the DOJ releases a report detailing how much money they have recovered…

  • Welcome to Fraud By the Numbers

    Fraud in America is proud to introduce Fraud By The Numbers, a new project that sets forth and explains important numbers, statistics, and provides visualizations relevant to the False Claims Act, whistleblower statutes, and the fight against fraud in America. Each day in September, there will be a new blog post at noon with facts…