Suozzi to Spitzer: Admit that Medicaid Fraud is a Problem

Suozzi to Spitzer: Admit that Medicaid Fraud is a Problem

Attorney General Claims Only 2% Waste, Fraud, and Abuse In State Medicaid System

Democratic candidate for Governor Tom Suozzi today called on Eliot Spitzer to admit that waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid system is a serious problem and costs taxpayers billions of dollars.

"We cannot fight the billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse in the State Medicaid system if those entrusted with rooting it out are too afraid of offending their insider friends to admit that we have a serious problem,"said Suozzi.

"Given his underwhelming record recovering money from Medicaid fraud for New York"s taxpayers, I'm really not all that surprised that Eliot Spitzer is estimating that there is only two percent waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program. Even if that absurdly low figure were accurate, shouldn't Eliot Spitzer still be recovering nearly $1 billion a year, rather than the $200-odd million he's claimed, which as we know is a dubious figure in and of itself?"

The Daily News reported this morning that Eliot Spitzer said yesterday of Medicaid, "Ninety-eight percent of that money, I would hazard to say, is spent where it's supposed to be."

Despite the Attorney General's claim of 2% waste, fraud, and abuse, a July 18, 2005 article in The New York Times reported that many experts estimate that there is between 10 and 40 percent fraud in New York's Medicaid program.

On July 19, 2005, The New York Times also reported on the failure of New York's Medicaid Fraud Unit relative to other states: "As a percentage of the overall Medicaid budget, New York's 301 employees won less than half as much as those in Texas, Florida and New Jersey, according to statistics compiled by the federal government for its 2003 fiscal year."

According to the office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, from 1999 to 2003, Eliot Spitzer's office spent the most of any state in the nation to investigate Medicaid fraud ($142.1 million in federal funds), and barely recovered the money it spent ($148.7 million). In comparison, California spent just a quarter as much money ($37.4 million), yet still recovered more than New York ($149.3 million). Texas, with the third largest Medicaid program in the nation, actually recovered more than four dollars for every federal dollar spent ($18.2 million spent and $75.4 million recovered).

Last week, Suozzi disputed Spitzer's misleading claims that his office had recovered $273.5 million from Medicaid fraud in calendar year 2005. Suozzi cited the fact that $171 million, or 63% of the total recoveries claimed, came from a federal lawsuit led by the Department of Justice, not by the New York State Attorney General.

As founder of Fix Albany, a movement to bring accountability to New York's dysfunctional State Legislature, and as former President of the New York State Association of County Executives, Nassau County Tom Suozzi led the successful fight for a Medicaid spending cap, saving local taxpayers across the State hundred of millions of dollars each year.

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi is a Democratic candidate for Governor of New York.

http://tomsuozzi.com/announcements/MF_040706/