False Claims Act Update & Alert
Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. | WWW.TAF.ORG February  14, 2007
		Sign Up for this FREE Newsletter n Previous Newsletters n TAF Home Page n About TAF-EF n The False Claims Act n Email editor n To unsubscribe send email with "unsubscribe" in subject line.   Please take a moment to forward this FREE electronic newsletter to others that might be interested!   Quote of Note:  "I have never yet found a contractor who, if not watched, would not leave the government holding the bag."  - President Harry Truman
			Rep. Waxman On Phraud "According to whistleblowers who have filed dozens of cases ... drug companies have deliberately crafted business plans to avoid giving Medicaid the proper discounts.... If even half of the allegations are true, billions of federal dollars that should be buying needed care are instead adding to drug company profits."  >> Opening Statement of Chairman Henry A. Waxman
			TAF's Moorman on Phraud "So far, 16 settlements with prescription drug manufactures have recouped nearly $4 billion in civil damages and criminal penalties.  There are more than 180 additional unresolved cases.  Based on the cases settled to date, the potential liability of the drug cases currently backlogged at the U.S. Department of Justice is likely to be in the $60 billion range." >> Testimony of James W. Moorman
			HHS's Lew Morris on Phraud "Kickbacks potentially increase the costs to Federal programs because they encourage overutilization and may encourage the prescribing of more expensive drugs when clinically appropriate and cheaper options (such as generic drugs) may be equally effective. Equally troubling, kickbacks can compromise the independence of medical decision-making by putting the financial interests of the physician ahead of the welfare of the patient." >> Testimony of Lewis Morris
			Texas' O'Connell on Phraud "In the last 6 years, we have recovered $64.1 million from four [drug] manufacturers, and we continue to pursue cases against other wrong doers.  It is important to remember that these are Texas state cases only."  >> Testimony of Patrick J. O'Connell
			DoJ's Tenpas on Phraud "We are not seeing isolated instances of misconduct, but repeated practices within the [pharmaceutical] industry that have resulted in significant losses to Federal health care programs..." >> Testimony of Ronald J. Tenpas
			Gerard Anderson on Phraud "Each government program should know the price it pays for drugs.  However, the Secretary of HHS, the CMS actuaries, CBO, CRS, GAO, etc. do not know the prices the Medicare Part D plans actually pay for drugs.  One reason is that the systems some government agencies use for determining the prices they pay for drugs is so complicated. In other cases, the data is available but not analyzed." >> Testimony of Gerard F. Anderson