A federal report finds Medicare cost the taxpayers about $470-billion last year, while at least 60-billion of those dollars were lost to fraud, waste and abuse. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says that’s shameful and “makes no sense.”
Grassley says, “Every dollar lost to Medicare fraud is a dollar that’s not available for Medicare beneficiaries and an abuse of the taxpayers.” Grassley, a Republican, introduced a bill on Monday that would allow the federal government to delay a Medicare payment if foul play is suspected.
He says, “I do this so that officials can take a much closer look at questionable claims, because right now, federal law requires that Medicare send payments within a very short time, even when there’s a risk of fraud, waste or abuse.” Grassley says the federal government has put itself in a position where it has to pay, then chase the fraud, instead of working to prevent problems in the first place.
Under the bill, when the government takes more time with a payment, it would be required to conduct more detailed reviews of the claims in question to make sure they are supposed to be paid.