HARRISBURG, PA — The plaintiffs’ bar is working overtime to convince the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a state False Claims Act (FCA), arguing that it will raise revenue to help close the revenue gap currently preventing passage of a state budget. But the Legislature should not fall for this dubious (and self-interested) claim by the trial lawyers as it is one of the many false hopes promised by the proposed legislation.
What is a False Claims Act?
The federal FCA (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733) was enacted in 1982, and provides that any person who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government is liable for three times the government’s damages, plus exorbitant penalties of more than $27,000 per claim. In addition to allowing the United States to pursue perpetrators of false claims on its own, the federal FCA allows disgruntled and former employees acting as bounty hunters to file suits on behalf of the government—called “qui tam actions”—against those who submitted the claims at issue. Bounty hunters who successfully bring qui tam actions may recover a substantial portion of the government’s recovery, among other remedies.
In July, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed HB 1697, which would establish a state FCA. Medicaid is by far the largest area of recovery under a FCA. Yet, Pennsylvania already receives its share of Medicaid recoveries under the federal FCA. The established federal FCA provides a robust mechanism to recover...
HARRISBURG, PA — The plaintiffs’ bar is working overtime to convince the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a state False Claims Act (FCA), arguing that it will raise revenue to help close the ...