'The tip of the iceberg': Medicaid fraud epidemic hits Ohio, charges allege $50 million lost to defendants * WorldNetDaily * by Bob Unruh

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Dr. Mehmet Oz (Video screenshot)Dr. Mehmet Oz

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has confirmed that the Medicaid fraud epidemic, a topic on which Minnesota has been featured prominently in headlines in recent months, has expanded to multiple other states, the latest being Ohio.

“Today, we unsealed a 32-count indictment against two state employees and two other co-conspirators for allegedly billing $30 million to the government for therapeutic behavioral services that were never provided. We’ve also unsealed an indictment charging four defendants in a scheme to defraud a COVID program. Again, these programs, as we all know, were meant to benefit small businesses and individuals struggling because of the pandemic,” he announced.

“In total, between our state and federal partners, today we’re announcing charges that were either unsealed today or over the past week against 14 defendants allegedly involved in fraud schemes targeting over $50 million here in Ohio, and again, these numbers are staggering, but just the tip of the iceberg, both here in Ohio and nationwide.”

Blanche’s announcement:

Gov. Mike DeWine noted, “Year in and year out, Ohio is one of the nation’s leaders in indicting and convicting Medicaid fraudsters, with more than 2,200 indictments since 2011. Today’s announcements are a continuation of our ongoing work, and the tremendous partnership Ohio has with federal law enforcement.”

The Gateway Pundit explained investigative reporter Luke Rosiak released a deep dive last month into Somali fraud in Ohio.

He revealed:

  • “A politician who founded an $11 million home health care company that he appeared to run part-time — without even mentioning it in his political biography — who funded his campaign with donations from other home health care owners.
  • “A woman who reinvented her janitorial LLC as a ‘health’ provider, then billed Medicaid nearly $100,000 the first month.
  • “A landlord who bought airplanes after renting space to hundreds of home health care companies that billed Medicaid a quarter of a billion dollars.
  • “A million-dollar Medicaid business owned by a couple with repeated fraud, violence, and theft convictions.
  • “A man who went to prison for Medicaid fraud but told the government he was too broke to pay restitution, while his neighbors and associates preside over a poverty-program empire.
  • “An accountant who lost his license for stealing public funds, then opened a $7 million home health company using the address of a convicted money launderer’s teenage son.”

    • Mehmet Oz, of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, pointed out some 300 home health care facilities are found in a several-block stretch of one road.

    “One woman, he said, is in jail after being accused and convicted for billing health care expenses for people who were dead!” the report said.

    Oz said, “No more champagne on private jets for these people, no more new cars, no more luxury endeavors, and vacations. It’s done. We’re coming after you, wherever you are.”

    Bob Unruh

    Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.