To err is expensive. The CMS erroneously paid $54 billion in fiscal 2009, but trying to discern what is a legitimate claim isn't easy.

With the news that $54 billion of the CMS' payments in fiscal 2009 were made in error, the administration is set to launch a new effort to hold top officials accountable for fixing it. "We need to protect taxpayer dollars because every dollar that goes to the wrong recipient or in the wrong amount" is a dollar that isn't available to achieve the goals of the given government program, says White House budget chief Peter Orszag, left.