Medicaid fraud is bleeding taxpayers dry. Arizona’s GOP lawmakers dropped a bombshell report revealing 130,000 unverified applicants slipped through the cracks last year during President Joe Biden's tenure in office, potentially costing $6 billion annually, as Just the News reports. This isn’t just sloppy bookkeeping -- it’s a systemic failure rewarding deceit.
Arizona’s mess, alongside scandals in Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas, exposes a nationwide Medicaid fraud crisis costing billions. Only 24% of Arizona’s Medicaid applicants were vetted, and of those checked, 34% were wrongly approved, padding the rolls with ineligible claimants. Congress, meanwhile, dithers over $50 billion in estimated yearly waste.
In Arizona, State Senate Majority Leader Janae Shamp is sounding the alarm. “When we’re talking about cutting fraud, waste, and abuse, that is exactly where we start,” she told Just the News. Her righteous indignation is refreshing, but it’s time for action, not just words, to stop this taxpayer-funded free-for-all.
Only a quarter of Arizona’s 388,000 Medicaid applicants last year faced scrutiny. The rest? Rubber-stamped into a program already straining under fraudulent claims, leaving taxpayers to foot a $6 billion bill for unchecked handouts.
Shamp’s report lays bare a verification process that’s more sieve than safeguard. “I always want to believe in the good,” she said, hoping for bipartisan fixes, per Just the News. Naive optimism won’t cut it when 34% of vetted applicants were wrongly approved.
She’s demanding answers from the governor’s office, calling it “directionless” and “unaccountable.” Her letter, quoted by Just the News, is a start, but Arizona needs more than sternly worded missives to plug this fiscal black hole.
Ohio’s Medicaid mess mirrors Arizona’s, with a Bloomberg Law probe exposing lax oversight. A Gainwell Technologies pharmacist claimed bosses ordered him to greenlight all prescription claims in 2022, even dodgy ones. This isn’t oversight -- it’s a wink at fraud.
Janay Corbitt, a Dayton fraudster, exploited Ohio’s lax system, stealing $1.5 million via fake counseling agencies. Sentenced to six to nine years, her case, led by Attorney General Dave Yost’s team, shows justice can bite -- but only after millions vanish.
Ohio State Rep. Mike Dovilla’s House Bill 356 aims to boot 10,000 millionaires off Medicaid rolls, saving $1.2 billion yearly. Millionaires on Medicaid? That’s not a safety net; it’s a progressive fantasy fleecing hardworking taxpayers.
Minnesota’s Medicaid took a $7.4 million hit from a barred operator billing for nonexistent services. Falsified records hid the scam, proving fraudsters are bolder than the bureaucrats tasked with stopping them. This isn’t isolated—it’s epidemic.
In North Carolina, a business owner got 16 years for an $11 million scheme involving unneeded tests and kickbacks. The audacity of billing Medicaid for useless services while bureaucrats snooze is a slap to every taxpayer.
Texas nailed fraudsters like Dennis Damian Anugwom and ApolloMDx, who bilked millions through fake billing and unneeded genetic tests. Texas’ Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is fighting back, but the scale of deceit -- $142 million from one company -- demands more.
Rhode Island’s Eleanor Slater Hospital faced lawsuits alleging that Gainwell Technologies had ignored improper billing, coding the facility as a nursing home to dodge oversight. Such creative accounting isn’t innovation -- it’s theft dressed up as paperwork. Taxpayers deserve better.
Congressional leaders talk tough about $50 billion in Medicaid waste, yet states and contractors keep approving claims with barely a glance. Prioritizing speed over scrutiny is a recipe for more fraud, not less. When will the feds wake up?
States such as Ohio and Arizona are stepping up, but the federal government’s inertia lets fraud flourish. Dovilla’s bill and Shamp’s report are bold, but without national reform, Medicaid will remain a playground for scammers. It’s time to ditch the progressive pipe dream of unchecked entitlements and protect taxpayer dollars.
