Attorney General William Tong’s legislative proposal in favor of expanding Connecticut’s state False Claims Act appears persuasive at first glance. Who wouldn’t be in favor of protecting taxpayer funds against fraud and abuse? But looks can be deceiving, and the expansion of the False Claims Act out of the health care industry is not as simple as that question makes it sound.
Although the Attorney General’s proposal is well-intentioned, expanding Connecticut’s civil False Claims Act would have significantly disparate impacts on the wide range of industries in Connecticut. While the expansion could neatly be applied to some industries, the expansion actually would have a negative impact on other industries. For that latter group of industries, such an expansion would come at great expense and harm to anyone in those industries who undertakes public contracts.
Connecticut’s False Claims Act presently is limited to health care spending. And with good reason, as health care fraud makes up a large majority of the cases and recoveries under the federal False Claims Act year over year. Thus, it was with good reason that many states, like Connecticut, found it appropriate to enact a state false claims act to extend it to the health care industry. Nearly half the states have chosen not to enact any state false claims act at all.
False claims in the health care industry are often fairly straightforward. For instance, if a medical provider knowingly submits fraudulent bills for...
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