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Cracking Down On Medicaid Fraud

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey may have the right idea in asking lawmakers to transfer jurisdiction of the state’s Medicaid Fraud Unit to his office.

Right now, the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources oversees the unit. Morrisey argues his office can do a better job, and spend less money — which means saving taxpayers money.

According to the Government Accountability Office, total improper Medicaid payments cost the U.S. nearly $29 billion in 2015. And, of course, the percentage of West Virginians reliant on Medicaid — 29 percent — is the highest in the nation. More than 564,000 Mountain State residents working through the system every year leaves plenty of room for fraud, even though the vast majority of Medicaid recipients are honest to a fault and really need assistance from the program.

But Morrisey’s office has a good track record with this sort of thing. Working with the Social Security Administration and the state’s Disability Determination Section, the office has saved the government $13 million through Social Security benefit fraud detection alone since 2015.

“We really are one of the principal offices in this state that goes after fraud,” Morrisey told the state Senate Finance Committee earlier this week.

Lawmakers should consider the change. If it saves taxpayer money and takes another step toward ridding the Mountain State of the fraud and waste that has been aided and abetted by the bureaucracy for so long, it is a no-brainer.

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