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Senator Cortez Masto Spoke at a Press Conference Today About Her Proposal, which Comes as Senate Republicans Unveil Plan to Cut Americans’ Health Care
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Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) unveiled draft legislation to invest in and improve the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC). HCFAC was created to combat fraud across federal health programs, primarily Medicare and Medicaid. Cortez Masto’s legislation would strengthen the program and provide the government with a real, effective way to root out fraud and abuse in the health care system without kicking millions of Americans off of their health care. Footage of her speaking about this legislation today can be found here.
In 2022, HCFAC related activities recovered $11 for every $1 the program spent to support health care audits and investigations. Following its investigations, HHS-OIG estimates that 2,332 individuals and entities were banned from doing business with Medicare and Medicaid as a result of alleged fraud and abuse. Infractions include egregious neglect of beneficiaries (like residents at nursing homes), inappropriate billing practices, and supporting fraudulent providers and suppliers.
“As the former Attorney General of Nevada, I know first-hand the importance of investing in oversight for our government programs,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “This draft legislation increasing HCFAC funding is exactly what our agencies need to root out real fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid while protecting Americans’ access to care. I hope to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure this commonsense, cost-effective bill becomes law.”
HCFAC is a joint initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to combat fraud across federal health programs, primarily Medicare and Medicaid. The program needs additional support and funding in order to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated health care fraud schemes.
This draft legislation would increase mandatory HCFAC funding for HHS, CMS, and DOJ. This legislation would also allow HCFAC funding to be used to conduct oversight of all CMS programs, including the Affordable Care Act Insurance Marketplace and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The bill text can be found here and a summary can be found here.
Senator Cortez Masto has worked to strengthen the Medicare and Medicaid programs. She passed legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and cap the cost of insulin at $35-a-month for Medicare recipients through the Inflation Reduction Act. She has also pushed pharmacy benefit managers to help continue to lower prescription drug costs. As Nevada Attorney General, Cortez Masto worked with the Nevada Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to go after bad actors, rooting out fraud and abuse within the system.
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