RFK says Tylenol is behind the rise in autism. I never believed that theory.
Medicaid Fraud
For years, I have maintained the huge rise in the diagnoses of autism, ADHD, back pain, and other disabilities is fraud.
The autism scam in Minnesota finally brings the issue to a head.
Please consider the Wall Street Journal reports Why Is Autism Exploding? Welfare Fraud Is One Reason
Diagnosis rates of autism among children have more than tripled over the past 15 years. One reason, which Minnesota’s welfare scandal lays bare with shocking details, is Medicaid fraud and abuse.
Medicaid pays healthcare providers big bucks to diagnose and treat children with autism—sometimes tens of thousands of dollars a month for a single child. Yet states rarely verify that kids who are diagnosed actually meet the medical criteria for the disorder or that they get appropriate treatment from qualified specialists.
The result: Children covered by Medicaid or the government-run Children’s Health Insurance Program are 2.5 times as likely as those with private coverage to be diagnosed with autism. Many lower-income kids are labeled autistic merely because they have behavioral or developmental problems.
In 2014 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began requiring state Medicaid programs to cover autism therapy such as applied behavior analysis or ABA, a technique that uses positive reinforcement to improve social and communication skills. ObamaCare plans are also required to cover such therapy as an “essential benefit.”
In Minnesota, the number of autism providers soared 700%, and payments to them increased 3,000% between 2018 and 2023. According to a federal indictment, Asha Farhan Hassan set up the ABA therapy provider Smart Therapy, which employed young relatives with no formal education beyond a high school education as “behavioral technicians.”
Ms. Hassan and her business partners allegedly recruited parents by paying them monthly kickbacks of up to $1,500 a child. She worked with a licensed therapist “to get the recruited child qualified for autism services. There was no child that Smart Therapy was not able to get qualified for autism services,” according to the indictment.
She allegedly billed Medicaid for therapy that wasn’t provided and paid the kickbacks to parents out of the proceeds. “Often, parents threatened to leave Smart Therapy and take their children to other autism centers if they did not get paid higher kickbacks,” the indictment alleges. “Several larger families left Smart Therapy after being offered larger kickbacks by other autism centers.” Ms. Hassan’s lawyer has said that she will plead guilty.
Federal audits of Medicaid spending on autism therapies in Indiana and Wisconsin have also turned up widespread abuses. Nearly all Medicaid payments were improper or potentially improper—meaning the providers didn’t adhere to federal requirements.
The Wisconsin audit found providers routinely billed for more-intensive treatment than they provided, including time when kids were napping or “blowing bubbles.” Massachusetts’ audit identified more than 600 instances in which autism providers billed Medicaid for more than 24 hours of service for a patient on a given date. Between 2017 and 2023, Indiana’s Medicaid spending on ABA autism therapy increased nearly 30-fold. Nebraska’s has surged some 20-fold since 2020.
I feel vindicated. But I have been writing about this for years.
Clinton Ended Welfare As We Know It
On March 27, 2013, I noted Unwilling to Work; 25% in Hale County AL Collect Disability, 14 Million Nationwide; A Simple Solution
How Easy is it to Get Disability?
Hale county’s Dr. Timberlake asks a simple question to all his patients. “What grade did you finish?” If you claim “back pain” and do not have a degree, Timberlake believes you are disabled.
Clinton Ends Welfare As We Know It
In 1996 Bill Clinton signed a welfare reform act, that he proclaimed to be the “End of Welfare As We Know It”. It was. People moved off welfare on to even easier to get disability programs.
Part of Clinton’s welfare reform plan pushed states to get people on welfare into jobs, partly by making states pay a much larger share of welfare costs.
The incentive “worked” using the term loosely. Welfare rolls shrank but disability rolls soared.
Simple Solution
One easy way to eliminate some of the fraud would be to put someone in charge of making a case for the other side. No, we do not need new Federal programs. All we need do is “Un-end Welfare as We Know It“.
If states had any incentive to stop disability fraud, we would not have so much of it. Make states responsible for a large portion of disability claims just as they are for welfare, and the number of people collecting disability will collapse.
September 11, 2013: States Have an Incentive to Promote (Not Stop) Disability Fraud; So How Much Fraud Is There?
The federal government pays disability, but states pay part of welfare costs. This creates a huge incentive for states to actively promote disability fraud (simply to get people off state-sponsored welfare programs).
April 7, 2015: Expansion of Disability Fraud Under Obama: Puerto Ricans Get U.S. Disability Benefits for Inability to Speak English; Disability Deal Explained
Here is a curious story on the meaning of “disability“.
The US Social Security Administration has been offering disability benefits to Spanish speakers living in Puerto Rico based on their inability to speak English, despite Spanish being the territory’s primary language.
October 4, 2015: Fraudulent Medicare, Medicaid, EITC, Tax Refunds, etc. Total $1 Trillion Since 2003
A huge chunk of your tax dollars every year goes straight into the pockets of crooks. Nearly one in three earned income credits (EIC) is fraudulent. And the numbers keep getting bigger every year according to the Government Accountability Office.
December 19, 2019: Idiotic Idea of the Day: End Homelessness As We Know It
The Democratic mayor’s plan to “end street homelessness as we know it” includes adding 1,000 new “safe haven” beds in churches and other non-profits and 1,000 apartments earmarked for homeless people.
Please recall Bill Clinton’s plan to “End Welfare As We Know It”.
You might be surprised to learn that president Clinton did indeed do what he said.
Unfortunately, it was not a success story. Please consider “End Welfare As We Know It“.
I suspect Bill de Blasio will have a similar measure of “success”.
If after this you are still thinking of donating money to aid the poor, please note Vatican Spends 90% of Donations for the Poor On Itself
February 12, 2025: Trump Says he Will Love and Cherish Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
The new softer side of Trump now cherishes Medicaid. Is everyone happy?
May 14, 2025: Almost Half of New York City Is on Medicaid, So Is 40 Percent of California
Bill Clinton promised to “end welfare as we know it.” What happened?
Tylenol or Fraud?
I have been making the fraud case since no later than 2013.
People have been taking acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol), for over a century, while the Tylenol brand itself was introduced in 1955.
RFK is bogged down in Tylenol silliness. He is unfit for the job. And although I have no use for Covid vaccines (admittedly an errant late-comer), the RFK’s attack on measles and other vaccines is idiotic.
Measles, smallpox, and polio vaccines have saved millions of lives. It is foolish to be on a total anti-vax campaign. He is unqualified for the job.
Why do we have to choose between idiotic extremes?
Regardless, we have a strong case what the rise in autism, ADHD, back pain, and other disabilities is really about.
It’s the money stupid! And where there’s money there’s fraud.
How Do We Fix This?
We need to undo welfare as we know it. But that will not happen until states have a huge incentive to stop fraud.
Of course we could end the program. However, that is a zero-chance probability so we must think harder.
One of my suggestions was to give states a fixed block amount to spend, ending Federal involvement.
Then instead of attempting to dump fraud back on the Federal government, states would have an incentive to end the fraud.
Universal Free Money
Please note that Trump Embraces Universal Basic Income
Trump on Truth Social: I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over. In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare. Unrelated, we must still terminate the Filibuster!
Republicans have had many chances to fix this. They never even try.
And to add insult to injury Trump Says It ‘May Be Necessary’ to Extend Obamacare Subsidies
Trump says the “unaffordable care act has been a disaster ” that it “may be necessary” to extend it.
Thanks! I made a note to add that to my book of twisted government logic if and when I get to writing it.
Q: But what does Trump really want?
A: Free money. UBI
Q: Wouldn’t that be worse?
A: Of course, the spigot would never stop.
I fear that free money will be on the 2026 “buy votes” agenda.
