By Curt Schroder
It’s budget season in Pennsylvania, which means politicians are grasping at any loose straws they can find to painlessly raise revenue without increasing taxes. Regardless of a proposal’s shortcomings, if it makes a good sound bite, it will be pushed as a potential revenue generator for the state. Such is the case with the state False Claims Act, or FCA. Unfortunately, like its very name, claims that it will fill the current revenue gap needed to pass a budget are false.
Simply put, such measures allow individuals to bring lawsuits against businesses and health care providers on behalf of the government in the name of rooting out Medicaid waste. On the surface it sounds like a good idea — allow a person to file suit and recover misspent dollars for the state. In fact, a news article posing the question: “False claims have brought in millions – Why hasn’t it passed in PA?” has appeared in news outlets around the state. A deeper dive into the details and repercussions of the policy reveal the reason.
Implementing an FCA is not the right move for Pennsylvania. While masquerading as a good government reform bill, it really is just a huge gift to the trial bar and plaintiffs’ attorneys who are constantly seeking to expand liability in the commonwealth for their own financial gain. It’s reasonable to ask, what’s in it for the relators (the private plaintiffs/bounty hunters who filed these cases)? Why would they go through the trouble of bringing forth a case at...
Uncle Nearest, the fast-rising whiskey brand co-founded by a Black woman, Fawn Weaver, announced it had filed for Chapter 11 reorganization while simultaneously filing a defamation suit against it...