OPINION
18
Gingrich: Waxman Lets Health Care Fraud Flourish
By Kevin Spak
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Posted Jul 24, 09 10:52 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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America’s health care system is riddled with so much fraud that eliminating it would pay for universal coverage, but Congress doesn’t seem to care, writes Newt Gingrich in the Washington Examiner. He singles out as his particular villain Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman, he charges, hasn’t held a single hearing to look into Medicaid fraud, even though the GAO says $32.7 billion worth of Medicaid payments were improper in 2007.
Waxman’s fought every effort to introduce market-oriented bidding into Medicare, or to make the health care system more transparent. He even fought to add a provision to the stimulus bill that would eliminate citizenship, identity, and income verification requirements for Medicaid, “in hopes of ensuring that millions of illegal aliens would receive taxpayer-funded healthcare services.” His health care bill contains similar provisions, says Gingrich. No wonder he’s having trouble getting it out of committee.