Did the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives just discover $2.7 trillion in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid overseas? No, that's not true: The report of trillions of dollars in improper payments, which accumulated since 2003, was published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in the first half of 2024 -- this was not "just discovered" by DOGE. The estimated total in the report was derived from payments by many federal executive agencies including, but not only, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on February 12, 2025. It included a 1:05-minute-long clip taken from a White House press briefing the same day. The post was captioned:
The DOGE subcommittee just discovered $2.7 TRILLION in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid overseas, to people who should not have gotten it.
Democrats, SHUT THE FUCK UP! This government's spending needs to be audited and gutted.
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Feb 14 20:27:06 2025 UTC)
The scope of this fact check will not address the particulars of the improper payments from federal agencies that amounted to a reported cumulative total of $2.7 trillion over two decades. The question is whether the trillions of dollars in improper spending was "just discovered" by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) or the House Oversight Committee "Delivering on Government Efficiency" -- alternatively called the DOGE Subcommittee by Chairman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The amount of the improper payments circulated widely for months before DOGE existed and can be found in a report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on March 26, 2024.
A .PDF report (archived here) published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on March 26, 2024 titled "Improper Payments: Information on Agencies' Fiscal Year 2023 Estimates" begins:
Improper payments--those that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount--have consistently been a government-wide issue. Since fiscal year 2003, cumulative improper payment estimates by executive branch agencies have totaled about $2.7 trillion. Reducing improper payments is critical to safeguarding federal funds.
It also explains that the fiscal year 2023 number is not just from Medicare and Medicaid:
Our analysis of agency data shows that 14 agencies reported improper payment estimates across 71 programs.
This March report is focused on the most recent fiscal year (2023) and not each of the preceding 20 years -- but there is a graph (pictured below) showing the yearly totals (pictured below).
(Source: gao.gov screenshot taken on Fri Feb 14 23:00:39 2025 UTC)
Another report was published by GAO on June 27, 2024. The 21-page report is titled "Improper Payments: Key Concepts and Information on Programs with High Rates or Lacking Estimates" (PDF here, archived here) begins with this introduction:
Improper payments are a long-standing and significant problem in the federal government. Since fiscal year 2003, federal executive agencies (referred to in this report as agencies) have reported cumulative improper payment estimates of about $2.7 trillion, including $236 billion for fiscal year 2023.
The report only mentions the year 2003 this one time. As in the March report, the June report does not dissect the cumulative total of $2.7 trillion over all 20 years recorded. The report focuses on the most recent year's reporting -- the $236 billion from the year 2023.
Improper payments
The term "improper payment" is a technical term that does not equate to fraud. In the June 27 report, on page 5 of the .PDF the terminology is clarified. This Q&A explains:
Is an improper payment estimate an estimate of fraud?
No. While all fraudulent payments are considered improper, not all improper payments are due to fraud. For example, payments may be determined to be improper due to error or lack of documentation. Fraud-related improper payments, however, involve individuals or entities intentionally or knowingly providing false information.
House subcommittee hearing on government efficiency and waste
This DOGE subcommittee chaired by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took place on February 12, 2025. At 15 minutes into the C-SPAN video of the hearing, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer cited the existing numbers but gave credit to DOGE -- not for finding the volume of improper payments, but for "taking real action." He said:
I'm glad that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have found a newfound interest in waste, fraud and abuse. With a staggering $37 trillion in national debt we have no time to lose. A key place to start is improper payments. Since 2003 the government has lost $2.7 trillion because of improper payments. Fraudsters, organized criminals, hostile foreign actors and even government employees have siphoned money away from those who truly qualify for assistance. For years Republicans and Democrats on the oversight committee have condemned this waste, but now that DOGE is taking real action Democrats are choosing to defend the bureaucracy and status quo instead of standing up for the American people.
White House press briefing on February 12, 2025
A press briefing was held later that day. At the 16:21-minute mark in the video posted on YouTube (archived here) a participant asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt a question about DOGE. The framing of his question included the statement that the subcommittee had discovered the improper payments situation, when they had only referenced numbers from an existing report.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving DOGE can be found here.
