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Welfare fraud in Maine could be as bad as in Minnesota, according to Trump’s top Medicare official, Dr Mehmet Oz.
Oz said there is “another big crisis” in social-service fraud in Maine, during an interview with John Catsimatidis on Sunday.
“It turns out that Maine looks a lot like Minnesota,” Oz said.
The Hill reports, “Maine Republican legislators raised alarm bells after a whistleblower alleged late last year that millions of dollars had been defrauded from the state’s Medicaid program. State Sen. Matt Harrington (R) has demanded an investigation into the matter, calling it ‘an absolute slap in the face to every Maine taxpayer’ in an interview last December with NewsNation.
“The allegations are similar to those underlying an investigation into alleged fraud in Minnesota, in which federal investigators estimate fraudsters funneled $1 billion in funding allocated for social services programs. The Trump administration has pinned these fraud operations on the state’s Somali community and cited this alleged connection as the reason behind the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) highly controversial immigration crackdown efforts in Minnesota.”
Oz said he believes welfare fraud in Maine is also linked to the state’s Somali population, like the fraud in Minnesota.
He said he has sent a letter to Maine Governor Janet Mills—a Democrat—about his concerns.
Maine was subject to “enhanced activities” as part of federal immigration enforcement last month, with significant resistance from the state’s political establishment.
Governor Mills described the operation as inflicting “pain and suffering” on local communities.
During the interview, Oz also said he believes massive fraud is taking place in other states, especially California.
“We are going to keep fighting and looking for these fraudulent expenses because it’s ripping money out of the hands of our most vulnerable,” Oz said.
“We estimate there’s 100 billion dollars of fraud coming out of the programs that administer Medicare, Medicaid and the like.”
Oz and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are now subject to a civil-rights complain from California Governor Gavin Newsom, after Oz accused the Armenian population of Los Angeles of engaging in hospice fraud.
“Given the historic sensitivities involved, we are taking these allegations seriously,” the Governor’s press office said.
“Any and all acts of hate have no place in California.”
