Planned Parenthood Accused of Medicaid Fraud
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on Tuesday filed its official report to Congress identifying waste, abuse and potential fraud by Planned Parenthood affiliates across the nation.
The alleged fraud may amount to multiple millions of dollars in wasted taxpayer money. ADF attorneys prepared the report to aid Congress in its investigation of the abortion giant. The Susan B. Anthony List partnered with ADF on the effort.
“Americans deserve to know if their hard-earned tax money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it,” says ADF litigation counsel Catherine Foster. “Planned Parenthood has to play by the same rules as everyone else. It certainly isn’t entitled to a penny of public funds, especially if it is committing Medicaid fraud.”
The October report states, “In our experience, based on the publicly available audits summarized herein and confirmed by our confidential sources, Planned Parenthood’s primary motivation is to take advantage of ‘overbilling’ opportunities to maximize its revenues in complex, well-funded federal and state programs that are understaffed and rely on the integrity of the provider for program compliance.
“Thus, Planned Parenthood’s primary motivation appears not to be to provide quality health care to patients who seek family planning services, but rather to enhance its profits.”
The report identifies 12 types of potential fraud Planned Parenthood affiliates across the nation are allegedly committing. The potential fraud includes billing and being reimbursed by Title XIX agencies for medications and/or services provided in connection with an abortion, which is illegal under federal law.
Other billing violations include billing in excess of actual acquisition cost or other statutorily approved cost for contraceptives and Plan B products, inappropriately billing for services that were not medically necessary, billing for multiple initial prenatal care visits, and incorrectly billing initial, follow-up and postpartum services.
The report, prepared for Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, who is leading the congressional investigation, comes on the heels of the decision of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood if the investigation by Congress is “criminal and conclusive in nature.”
