The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 107 No. 5 2025
Can Whistleblowers Root Out Public Expenditure Fraud? Evidence from Medicare
open access
Abstract
This paper analyzes private anti-fraud enforcement under the False Claims Act, which compensates whistleblowers for litigating against healthcare providers who overbill the US government. I conduct several case studies of successful whistleblower lawsuits concerning Medicare fraud, pairing new legal data with large samples of Medicare claims. I estimate that deterrence from $1.9 billion in whistleblower settlements generated Medicare cost savings of nearly $19 billion, while imposing low costs on the government. These results suggest private enforcement is a cost-effective way to combat public expenditure fraud.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest_a_01339
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1169-1186
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref