BOSTON – Asylum seekers who fraudulently claim persecution in their home countries may easily escape discovery by U.S. immigration authorities, according to a report from the investigative arm of Congress.
Agencies charged with ferreting out phony stories "have limited capabilities to detect asylum fraud," the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, said in a study released Wednesday. While both Justice Department and Homeland Security agencies "have mechanisms to investigate fraud in individual applications, neither agency has assessed fraud risks across the asylum process, in accordance with leading practices for managing fraud risks."
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health care spending last year grew at the fastest pace since President Barack Obama took office, driven by expanded coverage under his namesake law and by zooming prescription drug costs, the government said Wednesday.
After five years of historically low growth, national health expenditures increased by 5.3 percent in 2014, reaching $3 trillion, or $9,523 for every man, woman and child. That followed a 2.9 percent increase for 2013. Such seemingly small percentage shifts resonate when the total is $3 trillion.
