In 1978, Congress passed The Inspector General’s Act a year after passing the Medicare – Medicaid
Anti-fraud and Abuse amendments to “police” the 21 largest agencies which spent the most taxpayer
funds. This was passed after the GAO “Fraud in Government” report found “waste fraud and abuse”
rampant in Defense and Social Security’s “Medicare and Medicaid.”.
Most Americans have no idea when or why Inspector Generals were added to 12 agencies from 1978 to
1999. The rest were added after that as fraud permeated all agencies so that it made sense to add
them to all agencies spending significant amounts. Congress added Inspector Generals for the IRS
and Justice Department most recently. So, after 40 years what have they done, and what fraud
amounts have they recovered? Very little has been done, certainly not enough to warrant their
continuation.
The Inspector General of HHS, formerly known as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was
responsible for Medicare fraud The HHS Inspector General has as an additional duty to oversee state
Medicaid Fraud Control Units. The Unit directors from 12 states formed a National Association of
Medicaid Fraud Control Units known as “NAMFCU.” This is a trade organization which also transmits
information between the units and hold training sessions.
As waste, fraud, neglect and abuse continued to rise additional Inspectors General were added today
almost all 73 government departments of Inspector General’s. Most have been called to testify in
Congress. Many opted to take their Fifth Amendment privilege.
One would think that inside information from “government insiders” would generate more cases
and recoveries. Unfortunately, this was not the case.