Published: 08-06-08
Sen. Cornyn: “Medicare fraud is costing our country millions if not billions of taxpayer dollars every year. . .”
AUSTIN—Recent reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing the significant oversight problems at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) highlight why Congress must make targeting and eliminating Medicare fraud a top priority U.S. Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas said today.
The Associated Press reported earlier that according to a new study by the GAO roughly $1 billion of the $10 billion in annual Medicare payments for medical equipment are later deemed improper. According to another recent report released by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Subcommittee Medicare paid up to $92 million in claims linked to deceased physicians from 2000 to 2007.
This latest news comes just one week after Sen. Cornyn co-chaired a forum on Capitol Hill along with Sen. Mel Martinez R-Fla. to examine efforts Congress should take to target and eliminate Medicare fraud. “Medicare fraud is costing our country millions if not billions of taxpayer dollars every year. It also weakens the long-term security of the Medicare program which is critical to America’s seniors. This is a serious problem that requires a prompt bipartisan solution by Congress” Sen. Cornyn said today.
“Senator Martinez and I have taken the first step and introduced a good bill that targets fraud and helps protect taxpayers and Medicare recipients. We are also working to shed light on the true costs of Medicare fraud and the root causes that we must address. It’s now the responsibility of the Democratic majority in Congress to step forward and join us in working to address this critical issue. How many more government reports and studies on the costs of Medicare fraud need to be made public before they choose to act? I hope not many. It’s time for Congress to meet its responsibilities and tackle the problem of Medicare fraud head on” Sen. Cornyn concluded.
Background
In June Sens. Cornyn and Martinez introduced a measure to detect and prevent Medicare fraud. The Senior and Taxpayers Obligation Protection Act (STOP Act) will require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to put procedures in place that will help stop Medicare fraud before it starts.
In particular the STOP Act:
• Requires the Secretary of HHS to implement procedures to change the current system of using Social Security numbers as the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) thus reducing fraud and identity theft among seniors. In addition HHS will implement a procedure for verifying the accuracy of physician charges.
• Establishes prepaid fraud detection methods which include pre-enrollment site visits for high risk areas and prepayment claim edits to detect submissions that are most likely fraudulent.
