Sen. Jane Nelson quizzed Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General Doug Wilson about the lack of Medicaid fraud convictions in Texas despite the tremendous resources the Legislature gave to the OIG last session.
The questioning occurred during the August 14th hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee which was hearing testimony relating to measures taken last session to reduce Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse.
Couldn’t answer question
Wilson was unable to answer the question and only hemmed and hawed that it takes along time for a case to come to trial. Finally, he said that she should ask the Medicaid fraud control unit in the Office of the Attorney General. The senator was clearly frustrated with the response.
Reminded of resources given to his office
Sen. Charles Schwertner, the new chair of the Committee, then reminded Wilson how much money the Legislature had given to his office last session, by asking him how many new people he was able to hire over the last year. Wilson, last session, had testified numerous times before legislative committees that there was over $600 million alone in dental Medicaid fraud that he had uncovered.
The excerpt of the testimony is on YouTube and is here.