Think it’s just Minnesota? Think again.
From Peter Pinedo’s article at Fox News (did you really expect this from ABC, NBC or CBS?):
On the heels of Minnesota’s still-unfolding massive social services fraud scandal, a whistleblower is exposing a similar scheme occurring among the Ohio Somali community, which she says dates back over a decade and totals millions in stolen taxpayer dollars.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Mehek Cooke, an Ohio attorney and conservative commentator, said that “Minnesota was just the tip of the spear.”
She said that providers within the Ohio Somali community have confided to her that they have been pressured to join in a “massive” Medicaid fraud scheme that involves doctors “rubber stamping” home healthcare payouts to the family members of elderly individuals for fake medical conditions.
She explained that scammers in the community have been exploiting a loophole in Ohio’s Medicaid program that allows individuals to receive Medicaid payments, totaling as much as $91,000 per year per individual, for care they are supposedly providing to a family member. Doctors who approve these payments in turn receive kickbacks themselves, according to Cooke.
Cooke said that, according to providers within the community, 99% of the time, individuals receiving the home healthcare Medicaid benefit have been coached and do not actually qualify for the benefit.
“What we’re seeing in Minneapolis is just a snippet of what’s happening in Ohio,” she said.
How much money, how much taxpayer money, goes to these scams?
And WHY haven’t state authorities seen through this and done something about it? It’s long past about time that they do.
The amount of fraud here, in Minnesota, and – no doubt – elsewhere must be staggering.
That said…
…let me end by reminding you that – importantly – however much of this fraud might be occurring in Somali communities, it does NOT mean all, or even most, Somali immigrants are participating. Let’s not tar an entire group with the actions of some.
And I’m not just saying that because it’s the “right thing” to say. I’m saying it because it is true; just as true as it is for any other group. Not all Black people are on welfare, not all Irish are drunks, not all Jews are cheap, not all Italians are mafiosi, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
Get the point? I hope so.
