Medicare drug program gets Senator's scrutiny after vulnerability report

ProPublica: Senators Press Medicare For Answers On Drug Program
A Senate committee chairman said he is concerned about the "serious vulnerabilities" detailed in a ProPublica report about scams that target Medicare's popular prescription drug program. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a statement that he plans to ask Medicare officials and the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "to look into the specifics of these cases, as well as determine the extent of any program-wide vulnerabilities that may have allowed them to occur." The committee monitors fraud in government programs (Ornstein and Weber, 12/24).