Monday, April 5, 2010

WASHINGTON - Senator Chuck Grassley is asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services to account for the fact that the agency that runs Medicare failed to respond for over a year to credible information about fraudulent pharmacies bilking Medicare.

The pharmacies in question included empty store fronts that successfully billed millions of dollars to private insurers, where they were identified, yet Medicare officials completely ignored the warnings, despite repeated warnings.

"Every Medicare dollar that's lost to fraud is a tax dollar wasted and a dollar that doesn't go to serve Medicare beneficiaries, as intended," Grassley said.

Here is Grassley's letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

This information comes on top of Inspector General reports last year about the Department's repeated failure to respond to formal reports about programmatic flaws that led to Medicare fraud, waste and abuse.

Conservative estimates say that at least $60 billion in Medicare dollars are lost every year to fraud, waste and abuse.  Earlier this year, Grassley introduced a comprehensive bill, the Strengthening Program Integrity and Accountability in Health Care Act, to combat this loss in federal health programs including Medicare.  It includes better screening requirements to keep fraudulent providers out of Medicare, as well as a stop-gap to prevent the federal government from paying first and asking questions later about whether claims for payment are legitimate.

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WASHINGTON, April 5, 2010 - Senator Chuck Grassley recently met with Jonathan Daters of Eldridge in Washington, D.C.

Daters, a junior at North Scott High School, was in Washington, D.C. attending the National Youth Leadership Conference.  The conference provides opportunities for students to discuss issues with private and public sector leaders, meet members of Congress and visit Washington's historical landmarks.  During their visit, students take part in group discussion and decision-making exercises to further prepare themselves for leadership roles.

Grassley discussed the opportunity that students have to intern in one of his offices.  "Being an intern is a valuable experience that allows students to get an inside look at politics and become more involved in representative government."

"It was great to meet with Jonathan," Grassley said.  "I enjoyed hearing his views and answering his questions about government.  During his time in Washington, he received a first-hand look at the federal government in action.  I'm glad Jonathan was able to see some of my day-to-day activities."

Meeting with young people has been a priority for Grassley throughout his career in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.  He enjoys meeting with nearly 60 groups of students every year.  To schedule a meeting with Grassley, visit http://grassley.senate.gov and click on Scheduling Requests under the Info for Iowans tab.

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Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, with jurisdiction over tax policy, made the following comment in response to report from the Treasury Department in support of Build America Bonds.

"The thin 11-page report from President Obama's Treasury Department released on Friday fails to mention that, according to Thomson-Reuters data, California and New York did 16 of the 17 largest Build America Bonds deals.  Taxpayers from the rest of the country are bailing out California and New York under the Build America Bonds program, which offers state aid in the form of fat checks from the Treasury Department just for issuing Build America Bonds.  California and New York get a better deal from the program than states with better credit ratings, because the program simply pays 35 percent of the non-taxpaying entity's interest costs, regardless of how high their interest rate goes.  Of course state and local governments are going to 'save' money under the Build America Bonds program ? they're being sent checks from the American taxpayers that they don't need to pay back.  Also, some analysts are pointing out that municipal debt could be the next debt crisis, so it's fair to ask whether federal policy should encourage increased municipal debt that could contribute to a meltdown.

"This report confirms that large Wall Street investment banks continue to receive higher underwriting fees on Build America Bonds deals than they receive for tax-exempt bond deals.  Also, the report is simply factually incorrect.  It states that a 28 percent subsidy rate for Build America Bonds is revenue-neutral for the federal government.  However, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's analysis of President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget stated that a 28 percent subsidy rate for Build America Bonds will cost American taxpayers an additional $8 billion over 10 years.  The large Wall Street investment banks aren't satisfied with a 28 percent subsidy rate and have stated publicly that they want more.  Fortunately for the Wall Street banks, but unfortunately for American taxpayers, the House gave in to the Wall Street banks' demands and recently passed a bill providing for a subsidy rate as high as 33 percent.  Instead of looking out for just California, New York and Wall Street banks, I'm looking out for the American taxpayers who are going to be stuck with the tab."