As a healthcare worker in Pennsylvania, I’m writing to urge our state senators to reject the False Claims Act legislation. While this bill is being advertised as a way to reduce fraud in our healthcare system, this proposal would actually do more harm than good.
This legislation would encourage private attorneys to sue providers on behalf of the state, and let them keep part of the money recovered. This is great news for lawyers, but bad news for every other hardworking Pennsylvanian whose tax dollars are now going toward these legal fees.
Pennsylvania’s lawsuit costs have seen a 5% growth from 2016 to 2022, according to the Institute for Legal Reform (https://www.uschamber.com/lawsuits/hidden-costs-lawsuits-grow?state=pa).
This is a fancy way of saying that Pennsylvania is spending more on legal fees, and this cost will only continue to grow. This is money that should be going into our communities and is instead lining lawyers’ pockets.
Hospitals, clinics, and frontline medical workers are still recovering from the financial, emotional, and workforce strains of the COVID-19 pandemic. Saddling us with another layer of legal exposure will only drain resources that should be going directly to patients, especially in rural and underserved communities.
This bill will cause real harm to our communities, so I urge the Senate to vote no on HB 1697 and protect all healthcare workers and the patients.
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