Medicaid Fraud Surfaces In New York And Pennsylvania

Medicaid fraud surfaces in New York and Pennsylvania. The Staten Island Advance reports: "A Graniteville man cheated Medicaid of more than $31,000 by failing to disclose earnings from his wages and properties, prosecutors allege. Mohammed Hafeez, 54, of Comstock Avenue, applied for and received $31,319 in Medicaid benefits between January 2005 and March 1 of this year. ... To obtain benefits, Hafeez submitted false documents, which did not list his earnings as a taxi driver or income from properties he owns, a law-enforcement source said" (8/28).

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports on a series of audits that discovered issues of fraud including for Medicaid in Pennsylvania Welfare Secretary Estelle Richman's department. "The problems may have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars between July 2006 and December 2007, Auditor General Jack Wagner said last week. ... Previous audits, in June 2007 and January 2009, found that the Department of Public Welfare issued at least $3.3 million worth of improper Medicaid payments and that inadequate supervision led to charges in 2007 against 18 people, including department employees, for allegedly stealing $500,000 by submitting fraudulent applications for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program" (Mauriello, 8/27).