DENVER Senators looked favorably this week on a plan by Sen. Ellen Roberts to sniff out Medicaid fraud in Colorado.
Roberts, R-Durango, won approval of her Senate Bill 60 on a 34-0 vote. It is the first bill aimed at fighting the growing costs of Medicaid to significantly advance in the Legislature, after lawmakers argued all fall about how to pay for health care for the poor.
Medicaid a joint state-federal program that gives insurance to people who cant afford it is the fastest-growing part of the state budget, and it is now the states second-biggest expense, behind schools.
Lawmakers of both parties, in both Denver and Washington, have said the government can save money by cracking down on Medicaid fraud.
But in Colorado, no one is sure how much fraud actually exists.
Senate Bill 60 is an effort to get that information so we make sure if we have a problem, were addressing it, Roberts said Tuesday while presenting her bill in the Senate.
In Colorado, local district attorneys investigate Medicaid fraud by patients. The state attorney general investigates fraud by doctors and other providers.
Roberts bill calls for investigating agencies to report to the Legislature what they have done to combat fraud and how many people they have caught. The report also intends to help investigators spot fraud by reporting the latest trends in methods people use to bilk the system.
The bill advanced in the Senate on a voice vote. It got bipartisan support.
The thing that I like most about this bill is the fact that its equal opportunity, said Sen. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, the chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. I think theres a perception that theres a lot of client fraud and not so much provider fraud, and I think well find that its just the other way around.
