FRIDAY DATA DUMP: Punishing The Poor
Who Would Jesus Scapegoat?
THE SET-UP: Medicaid fraud is real and it might even be rampant. But, as today’s DATA DUMP demonstrates, the culprits are not the impecunious enrollees targeted by Trump and House Republicans in the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Instead, fraud is primarily perpetrated by unscrupulous Medicaid providers, by opportunistic individuals inside the organizations that administer Medicaid programs and by professional scammers. Despite that fact, enrollees are about to be forced to navigate a Congressionally mandated obstacle course they designed with the expressed intent of pushing people out of the program.
That’s happening right now with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). So far, nearly 5 million people have been booted from SNAP, and it will accelerate in the coming months. It will also become a perfect storm when people lose SNAP and Medicaid after the new laws fully kick-in after the midterms.
Cuts and work requirements were sold as cracking down on lazy dudes who are supposedly milking the system while they hang out in their parents’ basement playing Call Of Duty, among other Welfare Queen-style tropes they trotted-out before bill passed. That was the all the justification they needed to carve out enough to “pay for” the tax cuts they lavished on their donors. But there is an additional motivation that traces back to the Calvinist roots of the earliest colonists. Here’s Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt in a recent interview with Stateline:
“Maybe it’s going back to the day where there was a little stigma attached and you had to actually go to a food bank and pick up commodity cheese and commodity groceries, and it had a little stigma so you were a little bit embarrassed,” he told Stateline. “Maybe we should go back to a little bit of that instead of just making it so easy…”
It’s not that Stitt doesn’t realize SNAP helps keep working Americans, military families and the elderly afloat … particularly in this K-shaped economy. Stitt simply wants people who use SNAP and, it stands to reason, Medicaid to feel worse than they probably already do if they have to rely on a foodbank to feed their kids or themselves.
‘Fraud industrial complex:’ Inside Maryland’s homecare Medicaid money trail
https://foxbaltimore.com/spotlight-on-maryland/fraud-industrial-complex-inside-marylands-homecare-medicaid-money-trail
EXCERPT: A months-long Spotlight on Maryland investigation identified roughly a dozen Maryland-based homecare providers billing Washington, D.C.’s Medicaid program that collectively received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars while carrying significant tax liens, facing labor and malpractice lawsuits, operating from seemingly vacant offices or being cited in serious allegations involving patient care.
Thousands of fraudulent Medicaid registrations by foreign crime ring, says OHCA
https://www.news9.com/oklahoma-city-news/thousands-fraudulent-medicaid-registrations-foreign-crime-ring-says-ohca
EXCERPT: The Oklahoma Health Care Authority has identified and acted on a foreign crime syndicate’s fraudulent Medicaid enrollment, according to a statement released Thursday.
OHCA did not specify the exact number of fraudulent enrollments, but referred to the claim that the crime ring “fraudulently registered thousands of Oklahomans for Medicaid.”
CT lab and owner to pay $145K to settle allegations of Medicaid enrollment fraud
https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/new-haven-county/ct-lab-owner-to-pay-145k-to-settle-allegations-of-medicaid-enrollment-fraud/520-54c7b84a-3e2b-4450-8090-5281667997e1
EXCERPT: A Branford lab and its owner have agreed a payout to resolve allegations with the federal government about falsifications on the company’s application to participate in the Connecticut Medicaid program.
Coastal Diagnostics, LLC, a reference laboratory in Branford, and its owner, Tricia Conroy, have entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal and state governments and have paid $145,720 to resolve the allegations.
Up to 2,000 Native Americans dead or missing in Medicaid fraud scheme: Attorneys
https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/medicaid-fraud-arizona-sober-living-facilities/
EXCERPT: Under Arizona’s American Indian Health Program, registered providers can bill Medicaid directly for addiction and behavioral health services delivered to eligible Native American patients.
Attorneys John Brewer and Dane Wood told NewsNation’s “Jesse Weber Live” that fraudsters exploited that system by recruiting people from tribal communities in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Montana and the Dakotas, funneling them into fake “sober living” homes that billed Medicaid for treatment rarely, if ever, given.
“It clearly is a human trafficking [scheme] and not just a Medicaid fraud scheme,” Brewer said. “They were held against their will, they were given drugs, they were given alcohol … their phones were taken away.”
Two Philadelphia women admit they traveled to MN to cash-in on Medicaid fraud
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/two-philadelphia-women-admit-they-traveled-to-mn-to-cash-in-on-medicaid-fraud/89-77507d1c-b291-4616-a022-a3f8bfd2724b
EXCERPT: Federal prosecutors say Langley, an Essence magazine curvy model, and Allen, a missionary and former Netflix actress, opened [Medicaid-funded Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) ] companies in Minneapolis after learning the program was “easy money”. According to court documents, the pair fabricated client records and inflated billing, ultimately pocketing approximately $3.4 million.
Terrance Darby told KARE 11 he was living in a homeless shelter while Langley’s company billed Medicaid for Housing Stabilization Services in his name.
When KARE 11 Investigates asked Darby about records showing at least $1,600 in claims, he said he received virtually nothing in return.
“What do you think the help they gave you was actually worth?” KARE 11 Investigates asked.
“Zero,” Darby responded. “I didn’t get anything.”
AG: 4 from Greater Cincinnati accused of stealing from Medicaid program
https://www.wlwt.com/article/medicaid-fraud-ohio-cincinnati-indictments/72198887
EXCERPT: The Ohio Attorney General’s Office said 10 Medicaid providers were indicted this week in Franklin County, accused of stealing a combined $563,860 from the program.
Ohio Bhutanese community says broad blame for Medicaid fraud ‘very inhuman’
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2026/07/17/columbus-bhutanese-nepali-community-responds-ohio-medicaid-suspensions/90509110007/
Doctors fear Medicaid changes will force them to decide who’s too sick to work
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/17/doctors-fear-medicaid-changes-will-force-them-decide-whos-too-sick-work/
Fraud investigations are crumbling this state’s Medicaid system
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/15/medicaid-fraud-minnesota-oz-trump-autism-00993313
NC Medicaid spending nears $42B after 93% growth in 4 years
https://www.carolinajournal.com/nc-medicaid-spending-nears-42b-after-93-growth-in-4-years/
Oregon behavioral health service providers sound the alarm about state’s $421M Medicaid shortfall
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/health/oregon-medicaid-healthcare-funding-gap-shortfall-421m-addiction-mental/283-25f31baa-1c90-4e06-959e-16ebc402cd46
Report: New York Medicaid Spending Surpasses K-12 Education, Raising Long-Term Budget Concerns
https://5townscentral.com/2026/07/17/report-new-york-medicaid-spending-surpasses-k-12-education-raising-long-term-budget-concerns/
Medicaid and SNAP cuts are exacerbating the intertwined problems of hunger and mental illness
https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/16/snap-cuts-mental-illness-hunger-psychiatric-emergency/
9 Leading Civil Rights Groups Predict the Largest Coverage Decline in Modern History—And Black Americans Will Suffer Most
https://www.theroot.com/9-leading-civil-rights-groups-predict-the-largest-cover-2000116695
‘I’m not giving up’: Florida mom battles Medicaid denials for special needs son
https://www.tampabay28.com/news/local-news/im-not-giving-up-florida-mom-battles-medicaid-denials-for-special-needs-son
Military families still struggle with food insecurity, housing, and dwindling savings
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-milspouse/food-insecurity-military-families-housing-savings/