[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S7804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. COBURN (for himself, Mr. LeMieux, Mr. Inhofe, and Mr. 
        DeMint):
  S. 3900. A bill to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse under the Medicare, 
Medicaid, and CHIP programs, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Finance.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, today, I, along with Senators LeMieux, 
DeMint, and Inhofe, am introducing the FAST Act. At the same time, this 
same bill is being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by 
Representative Peter Roskam. Both of us were present at the White House 
summit with the President.
  What the FAST Act does is attack the $100 billion worth of waste and 
fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP.
  In the President's February 22, 2010 proposal for health reform, 
President Obama endorsed several Republican proposals designed to 
combat waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. While some 
anti-fraud provisions were included in the health care overhaul that 
passed Congress, these Republican proposals were not fully included.
  Today, along with Senators LeMieux, DeMint, and Inhofe, I am 
introducing the ``Fighting Fraud and Abuse to Save Taxpayers' Dollars'' 
or ``FAST'' Act. An identical bill is also being introduced today in 
the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Peter Roskam, who 
also attended the White House health summit. The FAST Act notionally 
represents the Republican solutions the President endorsed to combat 
waste in Medicare and Medicaid as, as well as a bipartisan provision to 
reduce from by removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards.
  The status quo in Medicaid and Medicare is unsustainable and 
unacceptable. American taxpayers lose $60 to $100 billion in waste, 
fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid each year. Congress and the 
administration must do a better job of working to staunch this flow of 
taxpayer dollars that goes to crooks instead of providing care.
  The current system was designed to be defrauded. And under the status 
quo today, organized crime affiliates and criminal gangs are bilking 
billions of taxpayer dollars from Medicare each year because it is so 
easy to defraud the system. HHS' Inspector General told Congress 
recently that a street gang in California has defrauded Medicare to the 
tune of $11 million by establishing a fake company and billing Medicare 
for expensive items like wheel chairs and oxygen supplies. The American 
people ought to be outraged and should not stand for this.
  Imagine how we could improve Medicare's solvency if we could recoup 
two-thirds of the known fraud and abuse in the program each year. We 
could save $400 billion over a decade, just by preventing fraud.
  But the loss of taxpayer dollars due to waste and fraud under 
Medicare and Medicaid not only threatens the financial viability of 
programs, they erode the public trust. American taxpayers should not be 
expected to tolerate rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in publicly-funded 
health care programs.
  The new Federal health overhaul that Congress passed earlier this 
year dramatically expands Medicaid, significantly changes Medicare, 
creates new regulations, and will send hundreds of billions of dollars 
to insurance companies. Without improvements to current anti-fraud 
efforts, taxpayers could be at risk to even more money.
  Congress and the Administration must do a more effective job in 
combating waste, fraud, and abuse in public health care programs and 
protecting the American taxpayer dollars. This bill is not a magic 
bullet, but I believe it offers a common-sense step forward to reduce 
fraud, waste, and abuse in our Nation's largest two health care 
programs. This bill gives increases data sharing, stiffens penalties, 
and pilots new ways of combating egregious fraud.
  I sincerely hope politicians and bureaucrats can put the public 
interest ahead of their own. Congress and the administration cannot 
afford to continue to tolerate such fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. I 
look forward to working with any member of Congress who is serious 
about reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in public health care programs.
  Just think for a minute what would happen to Medicare solvency if, in 
fact, we could recoup two-thirds of the fraud and inappropriate 
payments that are ongoing. It is straightforward. Many of the ideas in 
this were embraced by the President at our meeting.
  It is my hope that the Senate will look at this and, in a bipartisan 
fashion, jump on board to fix a problem that is undermining one of our 
possible solutions to health care, which is that the Medicare trust 
fund is belly up.
  There has been a lot of work done on this by Democrats and 
Republicans in the Senate. It is my hope we will have their consent and 
cosponsorship for the bill.
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