The False Claims Act does not try to stop all fraud – just fraud involving government money. Still, that makes for a big universe of potential problems.

Our federal and state governments are some of the biggest buyers of goods and services in the country, if not the world. Medicaid spending is over $300 billion. Medicare spending is over $400 billion. The military budget is about a trillion dollars. The national education budget is over $700 billion, with most expenditures at the state and local level.

And fraud follows the money.

A case can be made under federal and state False Claims Acts whenever the fraud involves public monies. Typically, the cheating involves some sort of federal or state purchase of goods and services, such as federal procurement of weapons systems, or state payments for a Medicaid-funded prescription.

But while healthcare and defense spending are the most common subjects of qui tam suits, there are many industries and business activities where false claims abound, including:

Health Care

False pricing
Drug switching
Laboratory work overcharges
Kickbacks
Upcoding
False price or cost reports
False reports of drug safety or efficacy
Mischarging for Durable Medical Equipment ("DME")
Nursing home frauds
Research grant frauds

Defense Contracting

False Testing
Bid Rigging
Fraud in proposals (defective pricing)
Defective parts
Subcontracting frauds
Fraudulent overhead and cost reporting

Education

Vocational school fraud
E-rate: phone and internet service, equipment to schools
Research grant fraud

False Claims of Eligibility for Loans / Benefits

Small Business Administration
Housing & Urban Development
Federal Housing Administration
General Services Administration

Environmental

False certification of compliance with laws and/or regulations
False reports of prices or costs

Public Works

Road and bridge construction
False reports of prices or costs

Procurement

General Services Administration

Public Lands

Taking of oil or gas without royalty payments

Disaster Clean-Up

False claims of eligibility for loans or benefits
False certification of compliance with laws and/or regulations
False reports of prices or costs

Tax Fraud

As of January 2008, some 21 states and 2 cities have false claims, whistleblower and qui tam laws on their books. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 ("DRA") mandates enhanced federal/state revenue sharing for Medicaid fraud for states with qualifying false claims statutes.