We admit that Operation Epic Fury and the Texas Sharia law fight have distracted us from some domestic policy developments. So, we subscribe to Steve Moore’s Committee to Unleash Prosperity Hotline to keep us up to date on developments on the intersection of public policy and the economy.
A recent issue of the Hotline exposed what just might be the scam of the decade: California Governor Gavin Newsom's budget has an eye-popping $222 billion Medicaid spending, including an expected $137.5 billion in federal funding. This is despite last year's huge debate in Congress about whether Medicaid spending should grow 5% or 3% a year. Newsom prefers 15%!
For comparison, noted the Hotline, the entire budget of the state of Florida is only $117 billion.
For every 40 cents California spends on Medicaid, they get roughly 60 cents from taxpayers in other states.
We're not sure what trick Gavin Newsom thinks he has up his sleeve to get away with this, but the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress should make a big issue of California's non-stop looting of federal taxpayers via Medicaid.
To give readers an idea of the scale of the fraud in Medi-Cal, twenty-one people are facing charges in just one massive hospice fraud scheme that prosecutors said yesterday bilked California’s medical system out of $267 million.
Five principal conspirators were arrested on suspicion of a host of felonies, including insurance fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and identity theft for their alleged role in a sophisticated hospice scam operating across Southern California.
Prosecutors allege the defendants purchased on the dark web the personal identifying information of non-California residents and, without their knowledge, enrolled them in Medi-Cal through Covered California. The defendants then bought hospice companies and began billing the state for services they never rendered, according to the criminal complaint reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Prosecutors say Robert Sabiron Rubillar and Liezyl Rubillar, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Legal Systems Billing Solutions, masterminded the scheme. The pair, along with the three others, were arrested Wednesday as state investigators served search warrants at 10 locations across Southern California.
They are charged with conspiracy and insurance fraud for allegedly submitting bogus claims to Medi-Cal for Cherish Hospice Inc., Emanuel Hospice and Azure Hospice Care Inc., according to a criminal complaint.
In another criminal complaint, which also names the couple, another 16 people are charged with insurance fraud, identity theft and conspiracy to commit health insurance fraud. In that complaint, prosecutors say Levon Darakchyan and Roberto Rubillar Jr. used fake patients to submit for hospice payments from the federal government for JTN Hospice, Medlight Hospice, LED Hospice, Beloved Hospice Care, Hope of LA Hospice, Sunset Hospice, Secured Hospice and TC Hospice.
The group deposited government funds into bank accounts held by other conspirators charged in the case, including $33 million into a bank account held by Sarkis Ksachikyan, according to the criminal complaint. The conspiracy, prosecutors allege, used an elaborate series of fronts, and the hospice locations were often not brick-and-mortar facilities.
“Once the money was paid out,” said California officials, “it was funneled through a complex web of over 130 shell companies and hidden across bank accounts, payment apps and cryptocurrency to evade detection.”
State officials have recovered more than $30 million in state funds from the scheme, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In an Executive Order Trump signed on March 16 to establish an anti-fraud task force to “coordinate and accelerate a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs, including programs administered jointly with State, local, tribal, and territorial partners,” the Vice President was appointed serve as the task force’s chairman. We can think of no better place for Vice President JD Vance to begin his new duties than investigating the fraud rampant in California’s Medi-Cal.
A recent issue of the Hotline exposed what just might be the scam of the decade: California Governor Gavin Newsom's budget has an eye-popping $222 billion Medicaid spending, including an expected $137.5 billion in federal funding. This is despite last year's huge debate in Congress about whether Medicaid spending should grow 5% or 3% a year. Newsom prefers 15%!
For comparison, noted the Hotline, the entire budget of the state of Florida is only $117 billion.
For every 40 cents California spends on Medicaid, they get roughly 60 cents from taxpayers in other states.
We're not sure what trick Gavin Newsom thinks he has up his sleeve to get away with this, but the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress should make a big issue of California's non-stop looting of federal taxpayers via Medicaid.
To give readers an idea of the scale of the fraud in Medi-Cal, twenty-one people are facing charges in just one massive hospice fraud scheme that prosecutors said yesterday bilked California’s medical system out of $267 million.
Five principal conspirators were arrested on suspicion of a host of felonies, including insurance fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and identity theft for their alleged role in a sophisticated hospice scam operating across Southern California.
Prosecutors allege the defendants purchased on the dark web the personal identifying information of non-California residents and, without their knowledge, enrolled them in Medi-Cal through Covered California. The defendants then bought hospice companies and began billing the state for services they never rendered, according to the criminal complaint reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Prosecutors say Robert Sabiron Rubillar and Liezyl Rubillar, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Legal Systems Billing Solutions, masterminded the scheme. The pair, along with the three others, were arrested Wednesday as state investigators served search warrants at 10 locations across Southern California.
They are charged with conspiracy and insurance fraud for allegedly submitting bogus claims to Medi-Cal for Cherish Hospice Inc., Emanuel Hospice and Azure Hospice Care Inc., according to a criminal complaint.
In another criminal complaint, which also names the couple, another 16 people are charged with insurance fraud, identity theft and conspiracy to commit health insurance fraud. In that complaint, prosecutors say Levon Darakchyan and Roberto Rubillar Jr. used fake patients to submit for hospice payments from the federal government for JTN Hospice, Medlight Hospice, LED Hospice, Beloved Hospice Care, Hope of LA Hospice, Sunset Hospice, Secured Hospice and TC Hospice.
The group deposited government funds into bank accounts held by other conspirators charged in the case, including $33 million into a bank account held by Sarkis Ksachikyan, according to the criminal complaint. The conspiracy, prosecutors allege, used an elaborate series of fronts, and the hospice locations were often not brick-and-mortar facilities.
“Once the money was paid out,” said California officials, “it was funneled through a complex web of over 130 shell companies and hidden across bank accounts, payment apps and cryptocurrency to evade detection.”
State officials have recovered more than $30 million in state funds from the scheme, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In an Executive Order Trump signed on March 16 to establish an anti-fraud task force to “coordinate and accelerate a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs, including programs administered jointly with State, local, tribal, and territorial partners,” the Vice President was appointed serve as the task force’s chairman. We can think of no better place for Vice President JD Vance to begin his new duties than investigating the fraud rampant in California’s Medi-Cal.
