Ways & Means Advances Anti-Fraud Bills

The House Ways and Means Committee approved several bills last week aimed at reducing waste, fraud, abuse, and errors in the federal budget as well as reauthorizing demonstration authority in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.

Those bills include:

• The Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act (H.R. 8883), which would increase oversight of hospices and Home Health Agencies (HHAs) by increasing inspections for new hospices and HHAs from every three years to every year, tripling existing penalties for failing to meet reporting requirements, and ensure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) notify seniors when they are enrolled in hospice care and helping them disenroll.
• The DME Scammer Prevention Act of 2026 (H.R. 8871), which would require suppliers of durable medical equipment (DME) to submit electronic bill claims within 90 days of a physician order to help CMS catch fraudulent claims.
• The Recover COVID Unemployment Fraud in Banks Act (H.R. 8873), which would extend the statute of limitations on prosecuting fraudulent pandemic unemployment program claims from 5 years to 10 years and establish a federal taskforce to identify fraudulent payments.
• The Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act (H.R. 8872), which would enact changes to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program such as requiring annual measurement of improper payments and a plan to eliminate them, setting a strict income threshold for program benefits at 200% of the federal poverty level, and putting in place a 3-year period for states to spend TANF funds while allowing states to set aside 15% in case of economic downturn.
• The Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act (H.R. 8884), which would renew the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) authority to conduct demonstration projects for 5 years to help disabled SSDI beneficiaries that may have work capacity remain at or return to work.

We are encouraged by the Ways and Means Committee’s continued focus on reducing waste, fraud, abuse, and errors and supporting Americans with disabilities who want to join or remain in the workforce. With the government spending $186 billion a year on improper payments and $158 billion a year on disability benefits, these proposals have the potential to modestly reduce deficits and strengthen economic growth. Perhaps more significantly, these proposals can help to improve fairness and direct benefits where they are most needed. 

Importantly, these policies on their own are unlikely to generate large budgetary savings – and even aggressive program integrity reforms will not be enough to put the budget on a sustainable path – but such efforts are a good place to start.