Sponsors (4)
The bill directs sustained, inflation‑adjusted funding and oversight to strengthen Medicare/Medicaid fraud detection and program integrity—potentially saving taxpayer dollars and improving transparency—while creating new mandatory spending, privacy concerns, and added compliance burdens for providers.
Taxpayers and Medicare/Medicaid programs would receive increased, multi-year and inflation-indexed funding for fraud detection and HHS OIG activities, which should reduce improper payments and produce net savings over time.
Medicare and related program beneficiaries, Congress, and state governments would get stronger oversight and transparency because HHS OIG gains capacity and the bill requires timely annual reporting and notices to Congress when reports are late.
Medicaid and CHIP enrollees (including children) and state Medicaid programs would benefit from extending the Medicare‑Medicaid data match to CHIP starting in 2027, improving detection of improper payments across more programs.
Taxpayers and federal budget-makers would face higher mandatory spending and a new ongoing cost because funding is increased and indexed to CPI‑U, which could raise budgetary pressure and limit future Congresses' budget flexibility.
Hospitals, physicians, and other providers would likely face increased audits, enforcement actions, and potentially stricter reporting requirements, raising administrative burdens and compliance costs.
Medicaid/CHIP enrollees (particularly children) would have greater amounts of personal data matched and accessed across programs, increasing privacy and data-security risks for beneficiaries.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Raises statutory funding caps and adds CPI‑U indexing for Medicare fraud prevention programs and requires a GAO study of HCFAC program performance.
Official title: Amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to strengthen program integrity oversight for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 6, 2026 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress August 6, 2026
Increases statutory funding limits for Medicare fraud prevention and integrity activities across HHS, the HHS Office of Inspector General, DOJ components, and FBI for FY2027–FY2029 and requires annual inflation indexing thereafter. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to study and report on the performance and effectiveness of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) Program within 16 months. The bill adds multi‑year mandatory funding ceilings and CPI‑U indexing for program budgets, expands funded-year schedules, and directs a GAO review of use of appropriations, performance metrics, obligations, program outputs, and reporting timeliness to inform Congress and oversight of federal anti-fraud efforts.