State FCA Recoveries
Despite the success of the Federal law and the state False Claims Acts, these twenty-one states do not have an equivalent law:
Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.1
Not having such a law may be costing these states real money.
Most of these twenty-one states have reported nothing in collections for fraud committed against their own Government’s funds in the last five years. In Arkansas, the Attorney General did report two cases that total of $1,329,582.32.2 Neither claim involved a whistleblower. 3
Meanwhile, two of the most active Federal jurisdictions over fiscal years 2021-2025, are in states with no analogous State False Claims law: the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of South Carolina.
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania resolved the most fraud claims of any Federal district with 24 claims filed by whistleblowers and 34 by the Government. As a result, this district had more than a billion dollars of settlements and judgments in five years. It also provided at least $46 million in whistleblower rewards. The Western District of Pennsylvania collected another $66.1 and the Middle District of Pennsylvania $17.4 million in this time.4
The District of South Carolina is also a top jurisdiction for Federal False Claims Act collections with 23 claims bringing in more than $273 million and providing more than $26 million in awards to Relators.
Yes, it is possible to report insurance fraud to the states of Pennsylvania5 and South Carolina,6 but there is no reward available to whistleblowers for doing so. Neither state reports major fraud collections,7 though these states may have entered criminal prosecutions or joined a federal action.8 A whistleblower cannot file a case to recover funds on behalf of the state South Carolina, Pennsylvania or any of the twenty-one states without such a law, in their state court. Nor can a person add claims to recover funds for those states as part of a nationwide case.
By contrast, thirty (30) states, plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, (and a few cities and counties)9 have False Claims Acts with qui tam provisions, allowing a whistleblower to report fraud committed against those governments. They can recover funds lost as part of a nationwide scheme through a consolidated whistleblower action filed in any federal court, including the Federal District of South Carolina or Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as well as for fraud cases filed in state court. See U.S.C. § 3732 (b)(c). 10
Since May of 2021, the jurisdictions with such False Claims Acts have reported collecting more than two billion dollars through such anti-fraud laws.11
Can twenty-one states really afford not to have a real False Claims Act?
This piece was written by Tony Munter with Price Benowitz LLP
1 See Jonathan Lischak, State False Claims Acts, The Anti-Fraud Coalition, https://www.taf.org/resources/state-false-claims-acts-2/ (last visited Sept. 17, 2026).
2 Arkansas has a limited law called “Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act,” that does not allow a whistleblower to file a case in court. It only allows a whistleblower to report to the state and get an award “not exceeding 10%” if the state takes an action, and only at a Court’s discretion, with no minimum award. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-77-901-20-77-911.
3 Press Release, Att’y Gen. Ark., Attorney General Griffin Announces Settlement with Northwest Arkansas Hospitals, LLC, (Apr. 28, 2023), https://arkansasag.gov/news-release/attorney-general-griffin-announces-settlement-with-northwest-arkansas-hospitals-llc/; Press Release, Att’y Gen. Ark., Attorney General Griffin Announces 6 Medicaid Fraud Convictions & 1 Civil Settlement (Mar. 12, 2025), https://arkansasag.gov/news-release/attorney-general-griffin-announces-6-medicaid-fraud-convictions-and-1-civil-settlement/.
4 All figures are pulled from press releases and other publicly available data on judgments and settlements.
5 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 4117 et seq.
6 S.C. Code. §§ 38-55-170 et seq.
7 States may be able to prosecute fraud under other laws and join nationwide settlements brought as a group. See e.g., Press Release, Colo. Att’y Gen., Attorney General Phil Weiser Helps Secure Over $200 million from Gilead Sciences for Paying Illegal Kickbacks (July 15, 2025), https://coag.gov/press-releases/attorney-general-phil-weiser-helps-secure-over-200-million-from-gilead-sciences-for-paying-illegal-kickbacks/ (detailing a multi-state and federal-level settlement). If a state has collections pursuant to an anti-fraud statute and wishes us to update our data, we would be happy to do so. However, there are not public reports from Pennsylvania or South Carolina showing fraud collections. There are no possible qui tam actions in these states.
8 Meanwhile the thirty states that do have strong False Claims Acts can recover funds lost a part of a nationwide scheme through a consolidated whistleblower action filed in any federal court, including the Federal District of South Carolina or Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as well as for fraud cases filed in state court. See U.S.C. § 3732 (b)(c).
9 See e.g., N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 7-801-810; Chi. Code Ord. §§1-22-010-060; Allegheny Ord. §§ 485-1-6.
10 See Lischak, supra note 1.
11 Not every state that has a model False Claims Act has reported collections in the years since TAF began tracking public data. Data related to national collections may be underreported even in states that have False Claims Acts because nationwide cases are often reported by the federal government first and states do not always publicly list their share of a collection.
