December 2, 2013

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Representative,

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) has introduced H.R. 3392, the Medicare Part D Patient Safety and Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 2013.  This bipartisan legislation includes commonsense solutions that will lessen the devastating impact of prescription drug abuse on patients and reduce fraud in the Medicare Part D program.  On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support this legislation.

Each year, Americans lose billions of their hard-earned tax dollars to Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse.  Prescription drug abuse and related fraud contribute to this problem.  It is estimated that $72 billion is spent each year on medical costs associated with prescription drug abuse.  The rate of prescription drug overdose deaths has more than tripled in the United States since 1990.  For every death, there are 10 admissions for drug treatment, 32 emergency department visits for misuse or abuse, 130 people who are drug dependent, and 825 nonmedical users of prescription drugs. 

According to a May 2012 report by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, more than 1,000 retail pharmacies “billed [Medicare Part D] for an extremely high percentage of Schedule II or III drugs, which have potential for addiction and abuse.”   The report further found that 2,600 total retail pharmacies (roughly 4 percent of all nationwide) had $5.6 billion in questionable billing to Part D in 2009.  

H.R. 3392 would institute program integrity provisions that will help to weed out bad actors and reduce pharmacy fraud and drug diversion.  The legislation would increase oversight of prescriptions by requiring them to be electronically prescribed, allowing Medicare drug plans to suspend payments upon a credible allegation of fraud.  It would also require CMS’ Medicare Drug Integrity Contractors (MEDICs), which audit for fraud, to work more closely with Part D plans that have found and reported evidence of prescription drug fraud and abuse.   

H.R. 3392 would take important steps toward improving the integrity of the Medicare drug program, reducing costs, and saving lives.  I urge you to support this legislation.  All votes on H.R. 3392 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2013 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW