Fighting Medicare Fraud

I’ve introduced a common-sense bill to get at a major factor in Medicare fraud:  the pay-and-chase system.  I want to give the federal government more time to pay Medicare providers when waste, fraud or abuse is suspected, so that officials can take as much time as they need to closely examine questionable claims. 

Right now, federal law requires that Medicare send payments within a very short time frame, even if there is risk of fraud, waste or abuse.  This prompt-payment rule puts the government in a position of having to pay and then chase Medicare fraud, instead of working to nip it in the bud right away.  That doesn’t make any sense, and it’s no way to manage Medicare’s resources.

As Medicare spending continues to skyrocket and Medicare’s solvency is in jeopardy, everything possible must be done to protect Medicare dollars.

The government has paid more than an estimated $35 billion in improper Medicare claims under Medicare Part A and Part B in fiscal year 2009.  That’s around 12 percent of Medicare payments for the entire year.  At the same time, the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund started going broke last year.  In 2008, the Medicare program began spending more out of the trust fund than it is taking in, and it will run dry in 2017, if nothing is done.

Congress should take up my anti-fraud bill immediately.  It would do a lot to help make sure Medicare dollars go to bona fide providers rather than fraudulent providers who are scamming the system.  Every dollar lost to Medicare fraud is a dollar that’s not available for Medicare beneficiaries. And it’s an abuse of the taxpayers of this country.