Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, telehealth is good. Telehealth fraud is not. The Cheney bill is remarkably similar to a bipartisan measure that I worked on last year and got the support of 22 health-related stakeholders after holding a productive bipartisan hearing. I applaud Representative Cheney's support for telehealth and her valued service to our Nation in general. Through no fault of hers, this bill contains a glaring omission. Whenever billions of Federal dollars are available anywhere, some will try to steal it. That is what has happened with telehealth. The Justice Department has brought one charge after another against hundreds of defendants for stealing through fraud billions of taxpayer dollars, including charges that they brought last week. What happens is that someone using the telehealth mechanism is ordering expensive genetic tests, allergy tests, and medical equipment that the patient does not need and billing the taxpayer through Medicare. My effort to address this is not just to see a prosecution of theft after it has occurred, but to prevent it and to protect taxpayers with an amendment that was designed to employ the recommendations of a nonpartisan commission to prevent and reduce this kind of fraud. It enjoyed bipartisan support. I saw that it was not included under this rule. I think that is unfortunate. Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, I do not support the rule or the bill.”