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Some see a crusade against systemic corruption and government waste in public health programs as a mandate. Others think isolated cases of fraud have been highlighted to vilify immigrant communities, justify cuts to the social safety net, and distract from other issues.
The Insight provides you the full picture of facts and viewpoints on a top issue for Americans each week, powered by your questions and balanced answers from our multipartisan news team.
- How are public health programs used to commit fraud?
- Who is actually committing the fraud?
- How much of a priority should combatting this kind of fraud be?
- What is the government doing about it?
- What should individuals do about it?
How are public health programs being used to commit fraud?
On May 21, the former head of Minnesota nonprofit “Feeding Our Future” was sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison for orchestrating a $250 million pandemic relief fraud scheme.
Aimee Bock and co-conspirator Salim Said were accused of exploiting a federally-funded child nutrition program, falsely claiming to serve millions of meals to kids while using “the proceeds of their fraudulent scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, residential and commercial real estate in Minnesota as well as property in Ohio and Kentucky, real estate in Kenya and Turkey, and to fund international travel,” according to their indictment.
For months, claims of fraud in public health programs have been in the spotlight, with many people splitting into two opposing factions. Some think a fraud reckoning is long overdue for public health programs. Others think that “reckoning” has dark ulterior motives and overlooks bigger problems.
In December, YouTuber Nick Shirley published a video investigation alleging several daycare and home health facilities in Minnesota that received millions of dollars in public subsidies are fraudulent operations without children or employees present at many of the locations. State regulators responded by saying they’d previously found no evidence of fraud at the sites.
“Fraud is fraud — it doesn’t matter if it’s a black person, white person, Asian person, Mexican,” Shirley said. “And we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening.”
The videos have been viewed by over 4 million people, and Shirley has extended his investigations to other places like California, where he alleged over a billion dollars of hospice fraud has taken place. Shirley has since been called upon to testify by the House Judiciary Committee, and some California legislators have since attempted to pass a bill dubbed by opponents the “Stop Nick Shirley Act.”
Many of Shirley’s allegations aren’t confirmed. Some critics, while acknowledging the existence of fraud, pushed back on his framing of the childcare facilities, noting that “most child care centers are locked and have obscured doors or windows for children’s safety,” and that “Children are also kept in classrooms and would not likely be visible from a reception area.” But Shirley’s claims were quickly followed by executive action.
The Trump administration announced on May 13 that it is deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid funding to California over concerns of fraud. It has also withheld $243 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota.
In April, stemming partly from Shirley’s investigation, roughly 1,800 hospices in LA County were examined by CBS News (Lean Left), finding over 700 that raised “multiple red flags” and that eight people were arrested for their connection to alleged fraud schemes.
The Department of Justice has convicted 65 people so far for their roles in the Feeding Our Future scheme. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) has also faced scrutiny over alleged ties to the program, according to Fox News (Right); she was invited to testify before the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee and asked to provide documents tied to the fraud scandal, but missed the response deadline.
The Feeding Our Future program was the first to catch FBI attention in 2021, according to The Heritage Foundation (Right), who said “the cash that should have been used to provide goods and services to Minnesota’s most vulnerable–children, homeless, and mentally challenged individuals–was instead spent financing lavish lifestyles, funding terrorism abroad (al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab), and paying kickbacks to co-conspirators–potentially including Minnesota lawmakers.”
The Heritage Foundation explained that in Minnesota, the majority of those charged and convicted of fraud are Somali immigrants, who “created shell companies and fake distribution sites to claim $250 million in federal child nutrition fund reimbursements for millions of nonexistent meals.”
More recently, a Daily Wire (Right) report alleged widespread Medicaid fraud that is being investigated in Columbus, Ohio, which is home to the second-largest Somali community in the US. The report said that seven buildings housing 288 Medicaid funded home health care companies have taken in more than $250 million of taxpayer dollars, while “the seven massive complexes appear to be largely abandoned.”
Investigations have since expanded to include “Medicaid and other state-administered programs like Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention, Housing Stabilization Services, and Integrated Community Services,” with broader probes suggesting that losses to fraud across 14 state welfare programs could exceed $9 billion.
Democrats accuse conservatives of mounting a highly coordinated political campaign that weaponized a couple of real criminal cases and misleading viral videos to target immigrant communities and social safety net programs. They warn that many low-income families would lose assistance if the freezes on federal funding hold.
NPR (Lean Left) highlighted a Minnesota 14-year-old with cerebral palsy who depends on Medicaid, and cited a health policy researcher saying “If this becomes the framework for addressing fraud, it’s really destabilizing.”
Who is actually committing the fraud?
The Feeding Our Future scam is egregious. But other fraud schemes in the public health and healthcare spaces are far more expensive.
According to the HHS Office of Inspector General's latest annual report on Medicaid Fraud Control Units, “Pharmaceutical manufacturers accounted for more civil settlements and judgments than any other provider type.”
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How much of a priority should combatting this kind of fraud be?
What are states and the federal government doing about it?.png)
What should individuals do about it?
