Rep. Barry Moore demands answers on Medicare COVID test fraud

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Barry Moore (AL-02), Rep. Michael Cloud (TX-27) and eleven of their Republican colleagues sent a letter to the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding the ways in which COVID-19 test kit vendors are currently defrauding Medicare. Some over-the-counter COVID-19 test kit vendors have taken advantage of the declared COVID-19 Public Health Emergency to bill Medicare for unsolicited and unnecessary products at the taxpayers' expense.

Many of these vendors have dubious websites, fake addresses, and phone numbers that do not work, giving the impression that these “companies” were solely created to bill Medicare and turn a quick profit at the taxpayers’ expense. 

"Folks who are sixty-five and over have spent decades paying into Social Security and Medicare, and it's up to our government to steward their money well and hold up our end of the bargain," said Moore. "One of the easiest ways to help is to ensure Medicare isn't paying for fraudulent goods and services. I thank Rep. Cloud and eleven of my Republican colleagues for joining me to get answers on what steps Medicare is taking to combat this fraud and ensure taxpayer money is protected."

“We saw a plethora of corruption, mismanagement, and fraud during the coronavirus pandemic, and we must hold these bad actors accountable," said Rep. Cloud. These fraudulent activities are costing the American taxpayer and the Medicare program billions of dollars a year. We need to provide proper oversight to not only protect American taxpayers’ dollars, but also to combat fraudulent schemes from occurring in our health care system.”

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