Senators Bieda, Gregory, Conyers and Knezek offered the following resolution:

            Senate Resolution No. 159.

            A resolution to encourage the Congress of the United States to enact stronger Medicare fraud enforcement measures.

            Whereas, The Medicare program costs over $591 billion in 2017. Also in that year, the program lost about $60 billion in tax dollars, or about 10 percent of program costs, to fraud and waste, an amount reportedly higher than the annual budget for some federal departments and programs; and

Whereas, The Medicare program provides vital health care to millions of seniors and disabled individuals. Fraud and abuse in the Medicare system stem from numerous sources and are costing the program billions of dollars; and

            Whereas, Funds are fraudulently siphoned from the Medicare program in various ways. Most commonly, the theft occurs as a result of charges for services that were not delivered, duplicate claims, falsified records, identity theft, fraudulent actions of patients and providers, billing for unnecessary equipment, and inflated claims; and

            Whereas, Medicare fraud results in approximately $1,000 lost in health care spending for each Medicare enrollee. Additionally, fake billing impacts individual beneficiaries by causing a loss of personal medical information and may result in higher life insurance rates; and

            Whereas, More efforts to address fraud before it takes place is essential to turning the tide of Medicare fraud. Part of the fight involves health care advocates who must encourage beneficiaries to scrutinize their explanation of benefit statements, and carefully guard their Medicare cards; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That we encourage the Congress of the United States to provide funding for early detection of fraud and to enact stronger Medicare fraud enforcement measures; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.