House GOP Releases 14-Bill Package After Committee Report Estimates Up to $521 Billion Lost Annually to Federal Program Fraud

The House Energy & Commerce Committee released a report on Tuesday warning that Medicare and Medicaid are vulnerable to fraud on a large scale, referencing a 2024 Government Accountability Office estimate that federal programs lose between $233 billion and $521 billion to fraud each year. The committee noted that no specific estimate exists for Medicare and Medicaid fraud alone, and that the broader GAO figure covers government-wide losses.

In response to the report, House Republicans introduced 14 bills organized into three categories: legislation to improve identification of fraud in state and federal health programs, legislation to enforce existing anti-fraud rules, and legislation to hold states accountable for allowing fraud to persist. Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie described the package as "commonsense steps" to help states recoup lost dollars and close loopholes.

Among the proposed measures, a bill by Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger would require states to designate a single role for internal financial controls of state Medicaid programs. A bill by Rep. Mike Rulli would require each state to report annually to the federal government on Medicaid fraud vulnerabilities and remediation plans. Legislation by Rep. Nick Langworthy would require states to verify whether a new Medicaid enrollee had previously been removed from another taxpayer-funded healthcare program.