Theft from the cookie jar is refilled again and again.
Cato reports “It Was Like Someone Was Stealing Money from the Cookie Jar and They Kept Refilling It”
The “fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota,” reports the New York Times, “was staggering in its scale and brazenness.” Dozens of Minnesotans are facing felony charges for defrauding multiple government programs, including Medicaid. How staggering and brazen was it, you might ask? Let me put it this way: the title of this blog post is a quote from one of the defense attorneys.
So far as I can tell, though, the “scale and brazenness” of these fraud schemes are not unique. In Overcharged, Cato adjunct scholars Charles Silver and David Hyman recount the tale of Michigan oncologist Dr. Farid Fata:
Fata told healthy patients that they had cancer so he could make money by giving them chemotherapy they didn’t need. Fata reportedly “gave one of his patients 155 chemo treatments over two-and-a-half years—even though the patient was cancer-free.”… In 2015, he was found guilty and sentenced to 45 years in prison after abusing the trust of more than 550 patients and receiving more than $17 million through fraudulent billings.
The fraud schemes in the Minnesota fraud scandal do not appear to be exceptional. What’s exceptional is that people are not adopting the blasé attitude that they typically take. Consider that Silver and Hyman found “a Detroit magazine named [Fata] one of the ‘Top Docs’ in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012.” Or that a US senator intervened with Medicare on behalf of Melgen, and that President Trump ultimately commuted his sentence. Or that the CEO who ran HCA at the time of the alleged frauds is now himself a US senator.
As I have written elsewhere:
The three most salient characteristics of Medicare and Medicaid fraud are: It’s brazen, it’s ubiquitous, and it’s other people’s money, so nobody cares.
Medicare and Medicaid Bandits
Why the Huge Rise In Autism? Welfare and Medicaid Fraud
On December 7, I commented Why the Huge Rise In Autism? Welfare and Medicaid Fraud
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.
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.
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”.
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.
