(AP)
If a government hopes to function, it has to be able to enforce its laws. Our country is no exception, and in fact, the U.S. government is very good at enforcement. So when a big fraud case comes up, it’s absurd to think of Washington scrambling for a way to make things right.
Yet in the case of several large pharmacies accused of violating federal law, that scramble is exactly what’s happening.
The U.S. government, through the Department of Justice, claims that big-name pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens “submitted false claims to the Federal Government” and even “illegally filled unlawful opioid prescriptions.” Walgreens went so far as to agree to a $300 million settlement last year. Clearly, if pharmacies knowingly submitted improper claims or violated federal law, the government has robust civil tools to enforce a remedy — namely, in this case, the False Claims Act, under which the DOJ procured the Walgreens settlement.
But settlement notwithstanding, the DOJ is not leading with the tools at its disposal — including the FCA. Instead, government lawyers are pioneering novel litigation theories to pursue sweeping civil claims against these pharmacies. At a time when the American people already struggle to trust the justice system, this is a recipe for disaster.
The FCA, which goes all the way back to the Civil War, is the cornerstone of modern legal enforcement against fraud. Its provisions are robust:
• Whistleblowers can directly bring forth what are known as qui...
(AP) If a government hopes to function, it has to be able to enforce its laws. Our country is no exception, and in fact, the U.S. government is very good at enforcement. So when a big fraud case c...