"I advocated and pushed forward the Affordable Care Act because I strongly believed that as health care costs were skyrocketing, American families and businesses simply couldn't continue to bear that w..."
"I believe that the mandate helps put smaller businesses on a more competitive footing with large firms."
"Instead of expanding coverage and lowering costs, the President's health care law has pushed greater costs onto the backs of consumers."
"Spiraling escalating cost and depreciating the quality of coverage might end."
"According to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in 2011, Medicare spending accounted for 21 percent of total national health expenditures."
"Medicare has been on the Government Accountability Office's high-risk list continuously since GAO began designating programs as high risk in 1990."
"In 2012, Medicare spent approximately $555 billion caring for more than 49 million beneficiaries."
"CMS estimates that out of that $555 billion, $44 billion--nearly 8 percent--were improper payments."
"I look forward to hearing from our GAO witnesses what areas in the Medicare and Medicaid programs are most vulnerable to fraud and their recommendations to combat improper payments."
"How can we protect the most vulnerable in our society if we don't protect the integrity of the system that was intended to serve them?"
"I have dedicated much of my career in Congress to improving the quality and efficiency of both the Medicare and Medicaid programs."
"Fighting fraud is critical to both of these and critical to being responsible stewards of taxpayers' dollars, an issue where we should be able to achieve bipartisan consensus."