Labor Dept. Estimates $7.1 Billion in Overpayments to Unemployed

ABC News ^ | 7/09/12 | ALICE GOMSTYN

[Libloather]

Labor Dept. Estimates $7.1 Billion in Overpayments to Unemployed
By ALICE GOMSTYN
ABC NEWS Business Unit
July 9, 2010

While many Americans are feeling the pain of expired unemployment benefits, some have gotten a good chunk more than they were legally eligible for.

Preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Department of Labor find that, in 2009, states made more than $7.1 billion in overpayments in unemployment insurance, up from $4.2 billion the year before. The total amount of unemployment benefits paid in 2009 was $76.8 billion, compared to $41.6 billion in 2008.

Fraud accounted for $1.55 billion in estimated overpayments last year, while errors by state agencies were blamed for $2.27 billion, according to the Labor Department. The department's final report will be released next month.

Some of the overpayments likely can be traced back to the overwhelming workloads facing state employment agencies during the recession, said George Wentworth, a policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project.

[Libloather]

"There's just been a lot of change that states have had to handle. ... I just think the volume and the new staff have made the systems more susceptible to error."

Think Commiecare™.

[sunmars]

Oh i can tell you, Obamacare will bring nothing but bloated systematic abuse from excessive overcharging to charging for patients that don’t exist to needless operations just because they can.

[Doogle]

I'm sure that if the government "ask" the recipients to send the money back , billions could be recovered. dang,I just got a cramp in my hand

[chopperman]

Gee, I wonder which ‘unemployed’ are being overpayed.

[DeaconRed]

"Gee, I wonder which ‘unemployed’ are being overpayed."

The report I read said that it was people who were working and still filing unemployment. People in prison were having friends apply for them.
In other words is FRAUD not over payments. Typical LSM reporting.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Libloather.

[Doogle]

it's worst than can be imagined....benefits ARE NOW being handed out according to race. If your an new EGYPTIAN immigrant who lives in Hudson county NJ....you've already been "schooled" on how to play the system....your forms are prepared, your appointments,so-called job interviews,YOUR REAL JOB, CASH PAYMENT OF COURSE...has all been prearranged. Your Egyptian benefactor in EGYPT expects "loan repayments" to reimburse his investment. Your employment at an Egyptian owned cab company in NY ONLY PAYS CASH for a 60 hr week, which your get to by using the government paid transit card you use to get to work every day. Meanwhile your wife (who claims the same 2 kids you did on her public assistance claims but you live at different addresses on the forms anyway)...never are checked because the government worker has a job at the benefit office because of her ability to speak Arabic. She got her job because all her forms and benefits were arranged beforehand Medical (hospital visits) and education benefits are free AND DEMANDED! The benefactors,loan givers,have been making billions over the last 15 years or so, because they knew how corrupt and inefficient the system is....and will go on using the American tax payer as their money maker....along with the RAT protected bureaucracy created for it......VOTE FOR US WE CARE!

[Shady]

Rampant fraud...