AUGUSTA, Maine ? Two conservative Maine policy groups released video footage on Thursday that they say shows a state employee encouraging an individual seeking Medicaid to hide his income.
The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) and Americans for Prosperity-Maine (AFP) held a joint press conference in Augusta to unveil a secretly recorded interaction between a Department of Health and Human Services employee in Biddeford and a man who identified himself as Ted Ceanneidigh, who was applying for taxpayer-funded health care.
According to the video, the individual revealed to the DHHS worker that he had more than enough money to buy private health insurance but could not provide pay stubs because all his income was in cash and precious metals.
The employee responded by saying: ?They?re going to ask if you have income. You don?t have to go into details. You don?t have a paycheck, you don?t file taxes, you have no income.?
The two conservative policy groups said the exchange, recorded in February, reveals ?a shocking potential for fraud within Maine?s vast welfare bureaucracy.?
?How many Ted Ceanneidighs out there were advised by DHHS workers to hide their income?? Americans for Prosperity-Maine Director Carol Weston said Thursday. ?How many were never reported for suspected drug dealing? How many Ted Ceanneidighs are receiving taxpayer-funded health care today because of unethical practices within Maine?s welfare bureaucracy??
Sara Gagne-Holmes, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, said the video is certainly inflammatory but, ultimately, the footage shows no actual fraud.
?It was a screening interview; there was no application. This person never received Medicaid or any other benefits,? she said. ?There are checks and balances in the system that we didn?t really see in the video.?
If anything, Gagne-Holmes said, the exchange shows that the front-line DHHS worker could benefit from additional training.
Still, before Thursday?s press conference, Weston and Lance Dutson, director of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, met with DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew and staff from Gov. Paul LePage?s office to discuss possible reforms in light of the video.
LePage and Mayhew talked with reporters shortly after Thursday?s press conference.
The governor said he wanted to thank the individual who recorded the video but said he wished he had received it back in February.
?Then we?d be six months further along in fixing the problem,? he said.
The governor said the video showed poor customer service and poor time management on the part of the DHHS staffer, whom he identified as a relatively new employee who was not properly trained.
Mayhew declined to discuss whether or not the DHHS worker shown in the video could face disciplinary action.
The video was produced by Project Veritas, a national group that has conducted a serious of undercover investigations into Medicaid fraud. The case in Maine is just one of many instances of fraud found across the country, according to Project Veritas founder James O?Keefe.
?Government workers willing to aid people with criminal backgrounds and great wealth should be an outrage to every American,? O?Keefe said in a press release. ?The integrity of the entire Medicaid system has been called into question.?
According to O?Keefe, his group?s work has led to investigations in the states of Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina so far. O?Keefe refers to himself as a citizen journalist but has generated criticism for his tactics for trying to expose liberal media bias.
In Maine, particularly since Republicans have become the majority party in the House and Senate, there has been increased scrutiny of welfare. The Maine Heritage Policy Center has been particularly vocal about welfare fraud and abuse in Maine.
?I hope that what we have revealed today motivates action from officials in all branches of our government. Our system is clearly vulnerable to fraud and abuse, and we can no longer pretend these things only happen in other states,? Dutson said.
Dutson said his group has a number of policy initiatives he hopes the state will implement, including establishing a Secret Shopper-type program to monitor the performance and practices of DHHS employees.
Even before he was elected, Gov. LePage was a strong proponent of welfare reform and has vowed to make it a priority of his administration. Recently, he created the Fraud and Abuse Prevention Team, to intensify its efforts to deter abuse.
The nine-member team, made up of members of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Attorney General, has two charges: To identify fraud before it happens, and to make sure all cases of potentially illegal activity are properly investigated.
Despite claims made by the Maine Heritage Policy Center and others, state officials have said Maine?s rate of welfare fraud is extremely low. In many cases, it actually costs more money to uncover fraud than any amount that could be recovered.
Gagne-Holmes said the continued discussion of welfare fraud and the insistence of some to focus on inflammatory anecdotes take attention away from more pressing issues.
Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/11/politics/secret-video-alleges-possible-medicaid-fraud/
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