NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Halvonik 717 787-1381
Auditor General Jack Wagner's letter to Gov. Ed Rendell
Gov. Ed Rendell's letter to Auditor General Jack Wagner

Auditor General Jack Wagner Responds to Letter From Gov. Rendell on Medicaid Error Rate

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec, 30, 2010 – Auditor General Jack Wagner has responded to a letter he received from Gov. Ed Rendell, dated Dec., 20, concerning the error rate in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program.

Wagner announced in November that his department had completed eligibility audits at all of the commonwealth’s county assistance offices and found an average error rate of 15.5 percent. Wagner’s response to Gov. Rendell’s letter clearly establishes that the information the governor cited was not the result of a federal audit, but was simply a reprint of data that the Rendell administration had provided to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Service’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Attached are both letters.

Auditor General Jack Wagner is responsible for ensuring that all state money is spent legally and properly. He is the Commonwealth’s elected independent fiscal watchdog, conducting financial audits, performance audits and special investigations. The Department of the Auditor General conducts more than 5,000 audits per year. To learn more about the Department of the Auditor General, taxpayers are encouraged to visit the department’s Web site at www.auditorgen.state.pa.us.

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