State lawmakers from Suffolk County are pushing a pair of bills to crack down on Medicaid fraud, including vendors charging Medicaid for services they never provide.
The first bill would direct the New York state attorney general’s office to forward tips about fraud to local district attorneys for investigation.
“The facts are we're not doing enough, and we're not doing enough because we're handcuffing our local prosecutors,” said New York state Sen. Dean Murray (R-Patchogue) at a news conference Thursday.
Murray said state Attorney General Letitia James focuses only on high-profile “big fish” criminals.
“What about the medium fish, the little fish?” Murray said at a news conference Thursday with other lawmakers and officials. “You add those all together, and it adds up to a lot of money.”
A spokesperson for James said in a statement that every year, the AG’s fraud unit “recovers more funds for Medicaid than almost any other state, securing more than $627 million since 2019. Our office’s criminal investigations have led to dozens of convictions of owners, executives, and corporations and return millions of dollars to Medicaid every year.”
The second bill would grant financial rewards for tips that lead to convictions.
Both bills have support from Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and County Executive Ed Romaine.
