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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Mike Gerber |
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Gerber announces plan to protect Pa. taxpayers from fraud
HARRISBURG, June 11 – Rep. Mike Gerber, D-Montgomery, has introduced anti-fraud legislation that would protect Pennsylvania taxpayers and save millions in health-care costs.
"In this difficult budget year, we have an additional responsibility to ensure every cent of taxpayer money is spent wisely and efficiently," Gerber said. "Unfortunately, Pennsylvania loses millions every year through various forms of fraud, from Medicaid scams to over-inflated, no-bid contracts."
Gerber added, "Particularly in light of the recent federal stimulus package, we must create a system that deters fraud and severely punishes wrongdoers. My legislation would do just that."
Gerber’s reform bill, the "Pennsylvania False Claims Act," would allow whistleblowers who discover the theft of state money to come forward to the state attorney general to recover the funds on behalf of the Commonwealth.
The lawmaker said his proposal would also provide the state government with an additional source of revenue, reward and protect whistleblowers for doing the right thing, and punish wrongdoers with significant damages and civil penalties.
A similar federal false claims law was originally passed during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln and strengthened while President Ronald Reagan was in office in 1986. Since then, the federal government has recovered more than $12 billion. The federal government, however, cannot pursue action against wrongdoers who defraud a state, which is why it established a financial incentive program designed to encourage state-enacted versions of the law.
Under Gerber’s legislation, Pennsylvania would join more than 15 states that now have a false claims statute and become eligible for the federal financial incentive program.
Since 2000, states that have enacted false claims legislation have recovered more than $7 billion, including a $187 million award to California for municipal bond fraud, a $27 million award to Texas for falsely reported drug prices to the state’s Medicaid program and a $4 million award to Hawaii for wrongly recycled and repackaged prescription drugs.
"We definitively know from the recoveries achieved in other states that my reform bill would provide the taxpayers of Pennsylvania with a valuable tool to recover the millions of dollars lost to fraud," concluded Gerber.
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