Rep. Patrick Murphy, AARP Fight Medicare Fraud With Passage Of Improve Act

Press Release

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA, 8th District) and AARP representative Ray Landis announced that the Congressman's bipartisan bill to fight Medicare fraud has been signed into law.

Murphy authored the bipartisan IMPROVE Act (Improving Medicare Policy for Reimbursements through Oversight and Efficiency) to help eliminate fraud in the health care system and protect taxpayer dollars. His legislation was included in the health insurance reform bill the President signed into law last month.

"This law cracks down on criminals who pose as doctors to cheat seniors and drain taxpayer dollars," said Congressman Murphy. "Every dollar we lose to fraud is a dollar lost for seniors' health care and for middle-class families."

"Congressman Murphy's IMPROVE Act cuts down on the $60 billion that Medicare loses to fraud every year, helping to protect and improve the program that millions of seniors rely on for their health care," said Ray Landis of Pennsylvania AARP.

In their letter of endorsement, AARP wrote that the bill "provides a commonsense, simple approach to prevent fraudulent billing in Medicare by introducing transparency and oversight to the payment system."

The new anti-fraud law requires Medicare and Medicaid reimburse their providers and suppliers via electronic deposit at a bank or credit union. Medicare fraud drains $60 billion in taxpayer money every year; lax verification and identification requirements at check cashing stores make it easy for scammers to commit fraud and disappear without a trace. The IMPROVE Act closes this check-cashing loophole.

The IMPROVE Act has been endorsed by the AARP, the National District Attorneys Association, the Credit Union National Association, and the American Bankers Association.

"America's 39,000 prosecutors need this legislation," said Scott Burns, Executive Director of the National District Attorney's Associate. "The IMPROVE Act is an important tool in the fight to crack down on fraud and recover taxpayer dollars."

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