Why enact a Maine Health Care False Claims Act?
As noted already, Maine has successfully recovered funds in health care fraud cases under our existing UTPA. The only reason to enact this bill would be if (1) additional cases will be brought that otherwise would not be initiated or joined by the Maine Office of the Attorney General, resulting in additional recoveries that will help fund health care in this state and reduce fraudulently inflated health care spending; and (2) the State can recover additional monies through the 10% recovery increase provision in the federal Deficit Reduction Act (DRA). I believe that the answer to both questions is a qualified “yes.” However, because this is a policy area that is still evolving – the federal rules implementing the DRA false claims provisions have only recently been issued, and how they will be implemented remains to be seen – LD 1187 may be most appropriately addressed by a study combined with a carryover to next year. As drafted, LD 1187 mirrors model legislation that is believed to me
