Congressional Voices — Republican · Iowa · Senate
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
U.S. Senate · Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman · Oversight of Medicare Advantage Fraud · Pressing Since 2015
Tell Them AbilityForge Sent You
Sen. Grassley has been pressing UHC and CMS on Medicare Advantage fraud since 2015 — as Senate Judiciary Chairman, he has the power to compel answers. Contact him to express your support and urge him to push S.3822 forward. Every constituent call counts.
The Significance of This Statement
Chuck Grassley is not a newcomer to this fight. As both a former Senate Finance Committee Chairman and the current Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, he has been pressing CMS and DOJ on improper Medicare Advantage payments since 2015. When Grassley writes to a CEO calling billing practices "apparent fraud, waste, and abuse," that language comes with a decade of documented oversight record behind it — and the institutional power to compel testimony.
This is not a press release. It is a Senate Judiciary Chairman putting a CEO on notice with a paper trail that extends back a decade. That is the level of institutional seriousness this issue has reached on the Republican side of the Senate.
The Letter to UHC CEO Andrew Witty — February 25, 2025
Sen. Chuck Grassley, then-Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote directly to UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty demanding detailed information on the company's Medicare billing practices. Grassley cited reporting that UHC's upcoding practices resulted in $8.7 billion in extra payments in 2021 alone, calling it "apparent fraud, waste, and abuse" that "harms not only Medicare beneficiaries, but also the American taxpayer."
Grassley noted that he had been pressing CMS and DOJ on improper Medicare Advantage payments since 2015 — making this letter the culmination of a decade of documented oversight, not a new political position.
"Despite these oversight efforts, [Medicare Advantage Organizations] continue to defraud the American taxpayer, costing them billions of dollars a year… The apparent fraud, waste, and abuse at issue is simply unacceptable."
— Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), letter to UHC CEO Andrew Witty, February 25, 2025
What Grassley Documented
- →$8.7 billion in extra Medicare payments in 2021 alone from upcoding practices
- →Pressing on this issue since 2015 through CMS and DOJ channels
- →Called it "apparent fraud, waste, and abuse" — explicit legal framing from the Judiciary Chairman
- →Wrote to CEO directly — compelling a named executive to respond on the record
UHC's Response
UHC called Grassley's concerns part of "an ongoing misinformation campaign by the WSJ." CEO Andrew Witty stepped down on May 12, 2025 — weeks after Luigi Mangione was charged with his predecessor's murder and as federal scrutiny of Medicare Advantage billing intensified.
The company's choice to characterize a Senate Judiciary Chairman's letter as a "misinformation campaign" rather than respond to the substance is itself part of the documented record.
Why this connects to S.3822 and S.3829:
Grassley's decade-long oversight record demonstrates that the Medicare Advantage fraud problem cannot be solved by oversight letters alone — because the structural incentive to upcode is built into how Medicare Advantage organizations are paid. S.3822 addresses the conflict of interest structurally. S.3829 criminalizes the executive conduct. Grassley's work on this issue since 2015 makes him a natural partner for both reform tracks.
The Decade of Oversight
Grassley's 2025 letter is not a standalone action. It is the public-facing document at the end of a decade of pressure: Finance Committee hearings, CMS correspondence, DOJ referrals. What makes this letter significant is the Judiciary Committee's investigative power — subpoena authority, referral authority, and the standing to demand that a CEO respond on the record or explain why they won't.
The problem has been documented. The executive who oversaw the documentation resigned. The company called the documentation a misinformation campaign. The Judiciary Chairman is still there.
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