U.S. Senator John Barrasson (R-WY) recently introduced legislation to protect Medicaid beneficiaries and save billions in taxpayer dollars. The Protecting Medicaid Beneficiaries Act will apply the Medicaid asset verification program to all applicants and recipients in all states and territories. Currently, states are not required to verify if individuals are eligible for Medicaid based on assets. Due to an oversight in federal law, states cannot apply asset tests to a majority of the Medicaid population. As a result, the country’s Medicaid population jumped from 54 million in 2021 to nearly 100 million today. In 2022, an estimated $100 billion was used to pay medical services for financially ineligible individuals.
Federal and state agencies already use financial Asset Verification Systems (AVS) that partner with U.S. financial intuitions to electronically confirm beneficiaries meet the eligibility requirements of government programs. Out of 5.86 million asset verification requests made in 2021, AVS detected 58 percent of applicants held undisclosed account balances. In 46 percent of the cases, applicants had account balances above the eligibility thresholds.
Senator Barrasso said the amount of Medicaid fraud that’s taking place across the country right now is alarming, as too many people are abusing the system to take benefits away from those who are most in need, and this bill is a vital first step in eliminating fraud in Medicaid services and saving American taxpayers billions of dollars.
Source: Barrasso Bill Cracks Down on Medicaid Fraud / Sheridan Media