Illinois Senator Kirk Dillard recently wrote in response to an AP story concerning Illinois Medicaid cuts. Sen. Dillard argued—contrary to the AP story—that almost 10% of Medicaid claims in the U.S. and in Illinois could be fraudulent. To support his position, Sen. Dillard pointed to the 2010 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that looked at Medicaid fraud across the U.S.
The GAO financial report estimated that 9.4% of Medicaid payments nationwide in fiscal year 2010 were improper. Improper payments included claims for patients not eligible for benefits and payments for services that were not actually provided. The GAO report also found that payment of improper claims were a significant drain on state funds.
A separate report from the National Conference of State Legislatures estimated that Medicaid fraud and abuse nationwide falls between 3 and 10 percent and costs the states billions of dollars yearly. In some states, the level of fraud is even higher. For example, in Florida, 5 to 20 percent of the total Medicaid budget goes to pay fraudulent claims.
Waters & Kraus is a national firm with highly skilled lawyers practicing qui tam litigation in four offices, including Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Baltimore. Our attorneys have decades of experience successfully representing whistleblowers in a variety of fraud cases. Contact us or call our attorneys at 800.226.9880 to learn more about our practice and how we can assist.
