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GAO-05-839R 1 (2005-06-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptarzq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 



  SGAO

       Accountability * Integrity  Reliability
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548


   June 30, 2005

   The Honorable Wally Herger
   Chairman
   Subcommittee on Human Resources
   Committee on Ways and Means
   House of Representatives

   Subject: Administrative Expenditures and Federal Matching Rates of Selected Support
           Programs

   Dear Mr. Chairman:

   The federal government spends billions of dollars annually for programs that help low-
   income families and other individuals. A significant portion of these funds cover
   administrative costs rather than direct benefits and services. To provide information on
   how these administrative costs compare across programs and the federal government's
   role in funding these programs' administrative costs, we examined (1) total funding and
   the amounts and types of administrative expenditures for selected programs and (2) the
   federal matching rates for these administrative expenditures.

   Our review included seven programs: Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance
   Programs (SCHIP), Food Stamp Program, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, Child
   Support Enforcement (CSE), and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).' The Food
   Stamp Program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the
   remaining programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
   Services (HHS). To determine the amounts and types of administrative expenditures for
   these programs as well as the federal role in funding their administrative costs, we
   examined information publicly available from legislation, governmentwide publications,
   and the relevant federal agencies. We determined that this information is sufficiently
   reliable for the purpose of this correspondence. We conducted our work during May and
   June 2005 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

   Total expenditures, including administrative and all other expenditures, for the seven
   programs in our review ranged from $2.9 billion for Adoption Assistance to $295 billion
   for Medicaid, including both federal and state expenditures, as shown in table 1. Total
   expenditures generally include the costs of direct benefits, such as the costs of food
   stamps and medical services, as well as all other costs of administering the programs and

   'See enclosure I for descriptions of these programs. We agreed with your staff on this set of programs that provide assistance to low-
   income families and other individuals. Each of these programs is jointly funded by federal and state governments, employs federal
   matching rates, and has annual federal outlays of over $1.5 billion.


GAO-05-839R Administrative Expenditures and Federal Matching Rates

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