“The policies we will consider today complement President Trump’s new anti-fraud task force by helping recover stolen taxpayer dollars and implement tough new guardrails to stop future fraudsters.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following opening statement at a committee markup of anti-fraud, health, and Social Security legislation.

As prepared for delivery.

“Today, the Ways and Means Committee is meeting to consider eight bills aimed at two important goals: expanding access to health care, particularly for those in rural and underserved areas, and reducing waste, fraud and abuse in programs in this committee’s jurisdiction.  

“Americans should be able to get quality care in the communities where they live and work, yet for the 60 million Americans in this country who rely on Medicare, outdated and unfair rules make this difficult. The policies in our legislation cut through the Washington red tape hurting seniors’ access to care.  

“Our first bill recognizes the important role community pharmacists play delivering care for patients. 90 percent of Americans live within 5 miles of a pharmacy, and in rural communities, a pharmacist is frequently the first point of care for patients. This legislation from Representatives Adrian Smith and Brad Schneider allows Medicare to reimburse pharmacists for tests and treatments for common respiratory illnesses, like strep throat and the flu. 

“Pharmacists across the country provide this critical primary care to patients every day. This bill ensures seniors on Medicare can receive this same care from a trusted medical professional.  

“The second bill helps independent physicians keep their doors open by modernizing the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The current system is outdated, unpredictable, and over half of independent physicians cited Medicare reimbursement cuts as a major reason why they chose to consolidate. This bill from Dr. Murphy and Representative Suozzi protects patient access to care by stabilizing Medicare reimbursements and holds Washington bureaucrats accountable for unreliable calculations.

“We will consider legislation from Representative Carol Miller that improves the lives of kidney disease patients by expanding access to safe and effective home dialysis. This Committee heard from Americans about how home dialysis allowed them to take back control of their lives and improved their health. Home dialysis has fewer side effects and increased life expectancy, yet patients face barriers to starting treatment at home. This bill better enables seniors to engage in home dialysis by offering critical services such as staff-assisted home dialysis and renal mental health support services. 

“Next, we will take up fraud prevention legislation.

“As too many Americans know from personal experience, fraud is not a victimless crime. Fraud steals benefits from the very Americans that programs like Medicare, TANF, and unemployment insurance were created to help. 

“The size and scale of fraud in this country is staggering. $60 billion is lost each year from Medicare alone. That’s nearly a $1,000 dollars every year for each Medicare beneficiary. That doesn’t even include the other government programs where we know there is fraudulent activity. 

“Widespread fraud not only disrespects hardworking Americans, but it destroys public trust and incentivizes future criminals to steal from taxpayers.

“That’s why fraud cannot be swept under the rug. We cannot ignore the multi-billion-dollar elephant in the room. The policies we will consider today complement President Trump’s new anti-fraud task force by helping recover stolen taxpayer dollars and implement tough new guardrails to stop future fraudsters. 

“Legislation introduced by Representative Van Duyne cracks down on the hospice and home health fraud epidemic in this country. Just last month, this committee heard firsthand testimony about a system that has so failed to protect taxpayer dollars that a fraudulent hospice was able to claim a Los Angeles burrito stand as its headquarters. That is unacceptable. 

“This bill provides the desperately needed oversight that should have been done years ago. Hospices will be subject to frequent in-person inspections to ensure only legitimate operations are certified. Providers that fail to submit quality data, a telltale sign of fraud, will pay a tripled fine. Most importantly, we protect seniors from fraudsters by alerting them when they are enrolled in hospice and providing clear instructions on how to disenroll and report the fraud.

“Our next bill tackles the massive fraud in durable medical equipment. Items like catheters and medical braces have become big business for fraudsters to the point that a quarter of all Medicare DME payments are improper.

“Medicare’s outdated payment policies are a barrier to detecting fraud in real time. DME suppliers have an entire year to submit reimbursement claims and tens of thousands of claims are still submitted on paper each year. This bill from Representative Bean improves the ability of modern technology to better detect DME fraud in Medicare. 

“These fraud prevention reforms will help protect Medicare benefits for the deserving Americans relying on this critical program. 

“The next bill, offered by Representatives Van Duyne and Suozzi, helps recover nearly $1 billion in fraudulent COVID-era unemployment benefits abandoned in banks identified by the Labor Department Inspector General. That money could have already been returned to taxpayers had the federal government enforced state responsibility to reclaim the money. This bill charges a new federal taskforce with working with states to coordinate the recovery of those dollars from financial institutions and doubles the statute of limitations to 10 years for prosecuting fraud. 

“Legislation from Representative Carey tackles the fraud affecting the TANF program. Money meant for the vulnerable has become the target for fraud and state misuse due to a lack of federal guardrails. This bill strengthens federal oversight of state TANF spending so taxpayer funds benefit the truly needy and aren’t treated as slush funds or rainy-day funds by states. 

“This bill has come together thanks to the ideas of several colleagues on this committee in addition to Congressman Carey. A provision led by Congressman Smith sets a federal income threshold for TANF. Congresswoman Tenney championed a provision to prevent states from using TANF funds to fill state budget deficits and policy crafted by Congressman Carey introduces a 3-year limit for states to spend TANF funds. Legislation from Congressman Arrington included in this bill ensures taxpayers will finally know the annual rate of improper payments in TANF in service of eliminating all improper payments from this critical program.

“We will also consider legislation from Representative Austin Scott that helps disability insurance beneficiaries return to work by reauthorizing the Social Security Administration’s authority to test new approaches that remove barriers for beneficiaries looking to work. Lastly, we will also consider this Committee’s Views and Estimates for the Budget Committee. 

“I want to thank my colleagues for leading these bills, and I look forward to advancing them to the House floor.”