Interesting to note that qui tam litigation and the federal False Claims Act became an issue in the Republican presidential primary recently. 
Newt Gingrich’s mention of FCA enforcement is actually just one of several recent mentions by office-seekers and office-holders in both political parties of their bona fides on the false claims act.
Please note, friends, that I am all for politicians standing up to take a bow when they dedicate additional resources to fighting fraud — as President Obama has — and I am also all for politicians campaigning on the promise to increase resources to fight fraud — as Newt Gingrich apparently did.
Too bad he won’t be on the ballot in Virginia….
Specifically, in a debate, Newt Gingrich stated as follows:
“The duty of the president is to find a way to manage the federal government so the primary pain is on changing the bureaucracy. On theft alone, we could save $100 billion a year in Medicaid and Medicare if the federal government were competent. That’s a trillion dollars over 10 years. And the only people in pain would be crooks…”
Needless to say, I am all in favor of increased FCA enforcement (and of course this blog is totally dedicated to that). Even so, I am not quite as sanguine as Gingrich about the ability of the FCA to fix the Medicare and Medicaid budget….
But I will leave the fact checking to the folks at WaPo who have the scoop.
Additionally — and as reported here previously — a December 19, 2011 press release by DoJ gave detailed information on the record recent recoveries using the FCA, and in the process mentioned President Obama several times.
Now, let’s hope that increased resources for the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act will become an issue in the Attorney General race here in the Commonwealth….