Ashley Moody proposes bill to increase penalties for health care fraud

U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody has introduced a bill to increase penalties for those who engage in health care fraud.

Moody’s proposal, the Punishing Health Care Fraudsters Act, is designed to institute harsher fines and prison sentences for those who rip off health care systems and providers.

“For too long, the American taxpayer has been abused at the hands of criminals who bilk weaknesses in our laws and leaders that won’t bolster enforcement,” Moody said in a news release. “The fraud that has been exposed in recent weeks is a cancer that undermines trust and stability in critical programs, steals resources from those who truly need them, and raises the cost on consumers.”

Moody’s bill is an expansion of the Punishing Medicare Fraudsters Act that was originally approved by Congress in 2024. She said she was inspired to introduce the bill after recent reports of health care fraud in Minnesota. The Attorney General of that state, Keith Ellison, was involved in charging several suspects in a wide-spread health care fraud scheme.

Moody’s bill stipulates increased penalties for the health care fraud crimes, including:

— Maximum prison terms of 25 years, a bump from 10 years for general health care fraud. If the crime involves bodily injury that term escalates to 30 years, up from 20.

— Fines for defrauding federal and state health programs would increase from $100,000 to $250,000 and maximum prison sentences would escalate from 10 years to 25 years.

— False claims for receiving physician services would draw a $100,000 fine, up from $20,000.

— Medicare providers who knowingly commit fraud would be fined $100,000, up from $4,000 and maximum prison sentences would increase from six months to a year.

— Anyone who solicits or pays out an illegal kickback would pay a penalty of $250,000, an increase from the current $100,000.