Pete Stark: “And rise in support of H.R. 6130, which strengthens the Medicare Anti-Fraud Measures Act, as you have heard described…”

“And rise in support of H.R. 6130, which strengthens the Medicare Anti-Fraud Measures Act, as you have heard described here. This bipartisan fraud and abuse-fighting legislation was co-authored by our ranking member, Mr. Herger, and was cosponsored on our side of the aisle by Mr. Lewis, who chairs the Oversight Subcommittee on Ways and Means. It was developed in a way that I think Congress should do more legislation. It was a problem that was called to the attention of Mr. Herger and myself, and we worked together with the Office of the Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and expanded the authority to ban executives from companies who have been convicted of fraud from the program. As you have heard, many of those executives can come back and repeatedly take money from the Medicare or Medicaid program to which they're not entitled, and this would put an end to that. It expands the permissive authority to exclude affiliates, and it sees that the funds thereby go to the services that beneficiaries need. The bill has been endorsed by AARP, which states that the bill would expand the authority of the United States Health and Human Services to accomplish just that.”