It looks like Medicaid is a prime target for federal government savings, if it can stop shenanigans like this from states like California.
Under current law, states are required to pay Medicaid providers the same amount as taxes raised.
The federal government then matches those payments by 60% in an effort to help states recoup some Medicaid costs.
"Medicaid spending is supposed to be jointly financed by the federal government and states. However, states are increasingly designing Medicaid money laundering schemes that result in massive federal expenditures without any state financial obligation," the paper said.
"The state of California, colluding with insurance companies who cover Medicaid beneficiaries, has created one of the most outrageous ones yet, a money laundering scheme that results in California obtaining more than $19 billion in federal money without any state contribution over the period from April 2023 through December 2026."
The paper continued that those funds were "used to implement major expansions in the Medicaid program to fund illegal immigrants and long-term care (LTC) for the wealthy."
"This scheme enriches insurers, attracts illegal immigrants to the United States, and adds mountains to the federal debt, all at the expense of working Americans," it said.
Winfree said closing a loophole that allows states like California to significantly raise the provider tax could save up to $630 billion, adding it was something Republicans are looking at as they seek as much as $2 trillion in savings or more in the budget reconciliation process.
There's more at the link, and also in this report from Zero Hedge, which provides further details of how the scheme works.
One has to hand it to "blue state" governments. They appear to have figured out myriad ways to get their hands on federal tax dollars, while giving back far less than they should be contributing. I don't know if "red state" governments are doing likewise, but I wouldn't be surprised. Our constitution doesn't provide sufficient safeguards to prevent these shenanigans. That might be something to consider, once the primary task of slashing federal government expenditure is done.
Meanwhile, our tax dollars continue to be stolen from under our nose . . .
Peter
7 comments:
I think The Constitution does provide safeguards, but it was ultimately worked around. The Constitution and Bill of Rights clearly enumerates what exactly the government can and cannot do, and at the end states explicitly 'every not covered above', is reserved for the states.
The Federal Government has so many fingers in so many pies it has no business even being anywhere near, is the root of the problem. The fact that 1/2 the population seems to think that's how things are supposed to be is going to be the difficult part to resolve. Just so long as we don't take away their piece of the pie, right?
Unfortunately, when you do the math, ending that scheme saves about $6 billion a year.
This is a lot of money. If you gave me $6 billion--man. Don't know what I'd do with it, but the words "go mad with power" come to mind.
It's also about one-third of one percent of last year's federal deficit.
Why does it NOT surprise me that Commiefornia is in the middle of that scam?
Collusion is conspiracy. Conspiracy to defraud the government...even if using government rules is a felony. Sadly NOBODY. Will be facing charges for this. Which is why it happens. Routinely.
“It's also about one-third of one percent of last year's federal deficit.”
So…how much fraud and thievery are you willing to put up with??
Prison sentences are in order!
It's not a scam, it's a loophole.
Meaning someone put it there.
Thank your own congressweasels. Califrutopia only gets 52 total, and 43 of them are Democrats. Out of 435.
Call back when the current [R] congressional majority closes that loophole.
I won't be holding my breath.
Agreed.
My point is not that these issues don't need to be addressed, because they do. My point is that while fraud and thievery are exacerbating our fiscal woes, they are not the cause of said woes.
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