On the recordOctober 21, 2015
I return to the floor this week for my 24th edition of ``Waste of the Week.'' I have been coming down every week that Congress has been in session during this cycle talking about waste, fraud, and abuse of hard-earned taxpayer dollars. This is the 24th edition, and today I want to highlight improper Medicare payments. We all know that Medicare is important to our older citizens, of which I am one. Tens of millions of Americans depend on Medicare for their health care coverage, and we all know that we have the responsibility here in this body to preserve these important health benefits for those who depend on them. Preserving these benefits is protecting Medicare from waste, fraud, and abuse. Unfortunately, throughout the history of Medicare, it has been plagued by improper payments, and it is shocking to hear the numbers. The Government Accountability Office has reported that improper Medicare payments totaled nearly $60 billion in 2014 alone, and over the last 10 years, there has been $336 billion of improper payments in the Medicare system. This figure does not even include improper payments for certain Medicare programs whose record keeping does not date back that far. Examples of improper Medicare payments include services that are not medically necessary, duplicative billing for services by providers, ineligible practice locations, and spending on services that actually never took place.…
