U.S. Representative Beth Van Duyne announced on May 21 that the House Committee on Ways and Means has passed two of her bills, H.R. 8883, the Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act, and H.R. 8873, the Recover COVID Unemployment Fraud in Banks Act, both with bipartisan support.
The advancement of these bills is significant as they address fraud targeting seniors through Medicare hospice benefits and seek to recover taxpayer dollars lost to pandemic-related unemployment fraud.
Van Duyne said, “Today’s bipartisan committee passage of the Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act sends a clear message that Congress will not tolerate fraudsters exploiting vulnerable seniors and abusing the Medicare hospice benefit.” She added that after years of oversight efforts involving providers, watchdogs, and federal agencies such as CMS, “we are finally taking meaningful steps to strengthen oversight, protect patients and taxpayers, and stop bad actors before they can exploit the system.”
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith said about H.R. 8883: “Americans pay into Medicare their entire working lives with the expectation that those earned benefits will be there for them when they need them most… Representative Van Duyne has been leading the charge on rooting out this fraud from our system.” The bill is supported by several organizations including NACH, NPHI, HealthCare Chaplaincy Network (HCCN), LeadingAge, Addus Homecare, Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice (TAHC&H), Stanford Children’s Health (SWHPN), and SBEC.
On H.R. 8873 addressing unemployment insurance fraud during COVID-19 response efforts Van Duyne said: “Every dollar stolen through unemployment fraud is a dollar that never reached Americans who truly needed help… The Recover COVID Unemployment Fraud in Banks Act provides the coordination and accountability needed to reclaim these forgotten funds…” Smith added: “Upwards of $135 billion in unemployment insurance benefits is estimated to have been lost to fraud… I commend Representative Van Duyne for her steadfast commitment to cracking down on fraud.” This bill has support from groups such as U.S. Chamber of Commerce, TPA, UCOWF, NASWA, NTU, Job Creators Network,UWC,SBC,and AFPI.
Recent background includes a Department of Labor Inspector General finding nearly $1 billion in unspent COVID-19 unemployment insurance funds frozen at financial institutions due to suspected fraudulent activity; many accounts remain unreconciled or transferred as unclaimed property due to inactivity over six years since issuance according to findings cited by congressional staff. Without Congressional action hundreds of millions may go unrecovered.
Beth Van Duyne currently serves in Congress representing Texas’ 24th district after replacing Kenny Marchant in 2021 according to Wikipedia. She was born in Ithaca New York in 1970 and now lives in Irving according to Wikipedia.
