John Cornyn: “the first important rule of fraud control is: What you see is not the problem. It is what we don't see that really does…”

“the first important rule of fraud control is: What you see is not the problem. It is what we don't see that really does the damage, and the efficacy of control systems depends upon how well they uncover, and then suppress, the invisible bulk of the problem. Such are the words of the preeminent expert on health care fraud, Harvard, Kennedy School of Government Professor, Malcolm Sparrow. Just last week, the Washington Post ran a front-page article, which I would ask to be entered into the record, ``Medical Fraud a Growing Problem: Medicare Pays Most Claims Without Review.'' The story detailed how one woman, defrauded the Government out of $105 million using just a laptop while sitting in her Mediterranean-style townhouse. While the lottery's slogan is ``All you need is a dollar and dream.'' This woman discovered something better. Maybe Medicare should adopt the slogan ``All you need is a Provider Number and a dream.'' Quite simply, Medicare is not sophisticated enough to address the fraud that runs rampant through it. Every year, Medicare's anemic fraud controls let slip by an array of schemes that cost the Medicare program and taxpayers $60 billion, if not more. That is 20 percent of all Medicare spending.”