NASHVILLE-TennCare fraud investigators had a record year in 2010, with 266 arrests and nearly $700,000 recovered. But the fraud unit cost $4.6 million to operate.
That has some lawmakers saying it should be self-supporting, with more arrests and more money recouped.
State Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, is a family practitioner who has turned in several people he believed were defrauding the system. He’s also chairman of the TennCare oversight committee.
“With so much fraud I am honestly not too happy with the conviction rate,” Hensley told The Tennessean. “I feel like there is a lot more of it going on than they are picking up.”
But supporters say the numbers don’t tell the whole story.