AmericaImprove the particular control that causes an error, check whether it actually works, and track burdens on legitimate recipients. Report estimated errors, verified recoveries, and prevented losses separately.
What the evidence establishes
GAO-26-108694, published April 27, 2026, reports about $186 billion in estimated FY 2025 improper payments across 64 programs at 15 agencies. About $153 billion was overpayments. GAO says the estimate does not cover the entire government-wide problem, and changes in reporting affect year-to-year comparison.
GAO-26-108694 — FY 2025 payment integrity ↗
Improper payment is not synonymous with fraud. The estimate is not a recoverable cash balance, a criminal finding, or a promised source of funding for America.co projects. A dollar estimated as erroneous is not automatically a dollar recovered.
How it could work
Choose one program and one documented error category. Describe the proposed control, its data inputs, the responsible office, and the review process. Use an existing oversight recommendation as a starting question—not evidence that your implementation has succeeded.
Measure false positives alongside errors caught. Provide a route to correct mistaken records and appeal adverse decisions. Report verified recoveries net of administrative costs separately from modeled prevention estimates, using consistent periods and definitions.
Tradeoffs & safeguards
More checks can delay benefits, increase paperwork, or exclude eligible people. Data matching may improve detection while introducing privacy, accuracy, and security risks. Controls need both an effectiveness test and an access test.
Changes in reporting coverage, eligibility rules, or documentation standards can alter an error estimate. A lower reported rate may not mean a better program. Publish the denominator and explain any method change before presenting a trend as progress.
A pilot you could actually evaluate
Proposed evaluation: test one documented control in an authorized program setting with an agreed comparison, independent review, and an appeals pathway. America.co is not conducting that operational pilot or claiming access to private benefit records.
Suggested measures—not reported results
- Verified erroneous payments in a consistent sampled population
- False positives, corrected decisions, and processing delays
- Verified recoveries less implementation and recovery costs
Build an evaluation brief
Optional. Keep the unknowns visible. This is saved nowhere automatically and is not submitted to America.co or government.
Questions worth asking
Is the $186 billion all fraud?
No. It is an estimated improper-payment total reported by GAO, not an estimate of proven fraud.
Can recovered money be promised to new projects?
Not on this basis. Recovery, legal authority, and any appropriation or allocation decision are separate matters. No funding entitlement is offered here.
Go to the original sources
- GAO-26-108694 — FY 2025 payment integrity ↗Official oversight report; published April 27, 2026
AI-assisted synthesis and original evaluation questions, with linked source checks. No independent expert review, legal conclusion, funding commitment, or proven pilot outcome is claimed. People, methods, and corrections.