(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong led a bipartisan coalition in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect publicly funded programs from fraud by adopting a robust and fair reading of the False Claims Act (FCA). The coalition filed its brief in two Supreme Court cases that consider when a contractor can be held liable under the FCA for overbilling Medicaid.
The FCA is an important law enforcement tool that the federal government and states use when a contractor “knowingly” provides false billing information for some publicly-funded programs – including Medicaid, which covers more than 91 million low-income people across the country. A federal appellate court held that two retail chain pharmacies did not act “knowingly” under the FCA even if they ignored official guidance on Medicaid billing; intended to, and did in fact, submit false information; and reaped a windfall in public Medicaid funds through overbilling.
“The lower court’s rulings gut the essence of the False Claims Act and jeopardizes the integrity of state Medicaid operations. Having a strong interpretation of the False Claims Act is vital for the protection of taxpayer dollars, which is why my fellow attorneys general and I are strongly urging the Supreme Court to right this wrong,” Attorney General Tong said.
Since the Connecticut False Claims Act was signed into law in 2009,...
This story is the second in an ongoing series on the Cost of Fraud, as Open the Books tallies the hidden fees on American tax returns. Click here to read the first story on fraudulent autism billi...