Political Quotes

“earlier today the Finance Committee held a hearing to discuss the serious problems of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. Over the last 9 years, the Finance Committee has held more than 20 oversight hearings dealing with Medicare and Medicaid fraud. These hearings highlighted the flaws in how the Federal Government administers Medicare and Medicaid. They also stress the need to create disincentives for those who seek to defraud these vital programs. Every dollar lost to Medicare or Medicaid fraud is a dollar that is not available for beneficiaries. Of course, we ought to be very cognizant of that considering the impending bankruptcy of Medicare. In 2009, the Federal Government spent $502 billion on Medicare and $379 billion on Medicaid. It is estimated that between $40 billion and $70 billion was lost to fraud that year. However, officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice announced last month that their health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered $4 billion in fraud. So compare that $4 billion with the $44 billion to $70 billion, and it means we still have a very long way to go. When it comes to public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, it is clear the Federal Government needs to be more effective in combating waste, fraud, and abuse. The Federal Government has simply made it too easy for bad actors to steal from each of these programs.”