Senator Brown Demands Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services Do More To Eliminate Waste, Fraud And Abuse

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senators Scott Brown (R-MA) and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) held a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee (HSGAC) hearing entitled "Harnessing Technology and Innovation to Cut Waste and Curb Fraud in Federal Health Programs".

The hearing took the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to task for their failure to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

"The government has a responsibility to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and effectively, but has failed to do so," said Sen. Brown. "With Medicaid costs projected to increase by $430 billion over the next decade, it's long past time that CMS work to fully develop and implement effective programs to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. As the federal government faces a looming debt crisis and growing entitlement spending, Americans want us to do all we can to strengthen the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid programs."

Waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid consumes nearly $100 billion in taxpayer dollars every year. In an effort to strengthen efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, Senator Brown, along with Senator Carper, co-sponsored the "Fighting Fraud and Abuse to Save Taxpayer Dollars Act" (FAST Act of 2011).

For the full transcript of the hearing, click HERE to visit the HSGAC web site.

Today's hearing included testimony from two government witnesses: Peter Budetti, Deputy Administrator and Director for Program Integrity Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Lewis Morris, Chief Counsel to the Inspector General at Health and Human Services.

Source