UMVA has learned that a massive Medicaid fraud scheme in Ohio has been uncovered, with potentially billions of dollars in taxpayer money being laundered through a complex web of shell companies.
Rep. Brandon Gill, chair of the House Oversight Committee's new Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses, announced that his team will tear down the scheme "piece by piece." Gill's task force aims to uncover and eliminate institutional abuses, including the alleged Ohio Medicaid fraud.
According to information obtained by UMVA, a state audit found that Franklin County, home to just 11.5% of Ohio's population, accounted for roughly 38% to 40% of the $1.6 billion spent statewide, with nearly 40% of that amount flowing to just two neighboring ZIP codes, totaling approximately $240 million.
The audit also identified a 15.6% error rate in eligibility determinations, raising concerns that improper payments could range from $800 million to as much as $4 billion. Gill revealed that likely billions of dollars are being laundered through "a wide variety of shell companies that we're facilitating as intermediaries to facilitate payments to organizations that weren't providing any type of health care."
Gill's team on the House Oversight Committee has been working to uncover the scheme, building on the work of a reporter who was able to expose the fraud in just a couple of months. "Hundreds of millions of dollars of your tax money is being wasted in an Ohio Medicaid scheme that we're uncovering on the House Oversight Committee," Gill said.
The House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, has launched a sweeping federal investigation into the massive fraud scheme. Gill emphasized that his task force is committed to saving taxpayer dollars and ending fraud.
Gill wrote on social media, "Fraudsters stole hundreds of millions of your tax dollars through an Ohio Medicaid scandal. My GOP Oversight Task Force is pulling this scheme apart piece by piece."
