Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing today that combating health care fraud is a top priority of the Justice Department.
Breuer’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary crime and drugs subcommittee — chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) for the first time — comes on the heels of the recently-announced partnership between Main Justice and Health and Human Services Department to fight Medicare fraud. The assistant attorney general said between 3 and 10 percent of the more than $2.2 trillion spent on national health care in 2007 was lost to fraud.
“We must, must stop the bleeding and we are committed to doing so,” Breuer.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) criticized the amount of work the Justice Department has done to fight health care abuse. He said they handled only 238 health care cases in 2003 and 261 health care cases in 2007.
“Everybody promises to do better,” Sessions said. He added: “But that’s not a whole lot of cases nationwide.”
Breuer said the Justice Department has had success with the Medicare Fraud Strike Forces — in operation in South Florida since 2007 and in Los Angeles since 2008 — which have netted millions in restitution to Medicare.
“We have done well, but we need to do better,” he said.
Breuer will appear before the House Judiciary crime, terrorism, and homeland security subcommittee tomorrow to discuss the cocaine and crack sentencing disparity.
