WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today asked Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., to hold a hearing on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, which now costs $60 billion a year.

“On November 5, 2009 the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation reported that they had completed a preliminary analysis of the Affordable Health Care for America Act’s cost,” Barton said. “Over the 2010-2019 period, however, the CBO and JCT reported that the AHCAA would only save $1.8 billion as a result of fraud prevention. This is shocking and unacceptable.

“At your initiative, our committee already has expended considerable resources investigating the private insurance industry in what is widely regarded as an effort to generate the political momentum required to win AHCAA’s passage by villainizing its opponents,” Barton added. “Last year’s combined profits earned by the top 10 insurers amounted to $8 billion, but even that large sum seems like pocket change compared to the estimated $60 billion that was looted from Medicare and Medicaid at the same time. Where were our priorities?

A copy of the letter can be found here.