ALEX BERENSON: Minnesota was only the beginning: New York's Medicaid grift is far worse

It's not conscionable Minnesota. Or conscionable daycares. The deepest authorities honeypot is blue-state Medicaid.

And obscurity does corruption tally deeper than successful New York State, wherever everyone wants a portion of a $120 cardinal honeypot.

You’ve seen the video.

Nick Shirley, a national writer (aka a journalist), traveled astir Minnesota looking for fraud astatine state-funded daycare centers mostly tally by Somali immigrants. He recovered evident grounds of malfeasance — and attracted a worldwide assemblage connected X.

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Shirley’s 42-minute video has present been viewed much than 115 cardinal times, adjacent forcing a huffy effect from Gov. Tim Walz (last seen exaggerating his subject service).

Shirley deserves the attention. But erstwhile it comes to waste, fraud and maltreatment successful authorities programs, thing holds a candle to healthcare spending. Especially successful bluish states, and particularly since the Affordable Care Act and past COVID-era national subsidies allowed expanded Medicaid sum with an endless national backstop.

And obscurity is this much evident than successful New York.

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A fewer weeks ago, I received an email with the taxable line, "Healthcare and the $2,100 Taxi Ride." The email began:

"I person a person who drives a taxi successful XXX NY. He estimates that 80% of the cab fares are paid for by Medicaid…

"Yesterday, helium made a circular tripper from XXX to Boston wherever a kid had a two-hour assignment astatine Boston’s Shriners [Children’s] Hospital. The fare? $1,058.37 — EACH way. $2,116.74 successful total."

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It appears this was not a nonstop pay/bill to Medicaid, but a infirmary wage from a money they person for specified "needs". I deliberation we tin safely presume these funds are either backed by authorities of national dollars astatine the extremity of the day. His take? 37% — $783.

Attached to the email was a photograph of the fare. The antithetic sanction connected it matches the antithetic sanction of a kid from a exile household who was publically reported injured successful an unusual accident.

The metropolis wherever the kid lives has respective hospitals.

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What precisely is this infirmary successful a antithetic authorities providing — particularly erstwhile getting to an assignment and backmost requires a afloat time successful the backmost of a taxi?

How overmuch is each of this attraction costing, if a azygous assignment costs $2,100 — the outgo of a round-trip business-class, cross-country level summons — for proscription unsocial (before immoderate markup the infirmary is adding)?

And who is paying for each this attraction for a penniless exile household from 1 of the poorest countries successful the world?

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The archetypal 2 questions person nary answer.

The 3rd does, however. Local (in New York, counties and New York City lend to Medicaid), authorities — and astir of each — national taxpayers. And the spending is skyrocketing unstoppably.

Year aft year, blimpish deliberation tanks — and sometimes adjacent non-partisan bully authorities groups — constitute papers astir however out-of-control New York’s Medicaid programme has become. Year aft year, Republican lawmakers astatine the authorities and national level complain. Sometimes, authorities and national prosecutors adjacent onslaught peculiarly egregious fraud.

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But thing ever changes, but that the numbers get larger.

In 1988, New York had astir 18 cardinal radical and spent astir $10 cardinal connected Medicaid. Today, the authorities has astir 20 cardinal radical — and spends astir $120 billion. Even aft adjusting for inflation, New York is spending astir 4 times arsenic overmuch per person.

In fact, aft a play of somewhat slower maturation successful the 2000s, spending has precocious accelerated again — chiefly due to the fact that the state’s Democratic politicians person realized that the national authorities volition backstop much and much spending.

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I expect to person much to accidental astir New York’s Medicaid programme successful aboriginal articles, due to the fact that it is intolerable to unravel the situation successful American medicine from the situation successful American aesculapian spending — and the honeypot New York has created captures the essence of the problem.

If each authorities spent astatine the aforesaid level arsenic New York, the United States would walk astir $2 trillion connected Medicaid unsocial — yet determination is nary grounds that patients successful New York are healthier oregon person amended attraction than those successful states that walk acold less.

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I americium much convinced than ever that the system’s out-of-control fiscal incentives aren’t conscionable putting the full national authorities connected a accelerated way to fiscal ruin — they are starring to worse attraction for many, galore Americans.

The roadworthy to hellhole is paved with $2,100 cab rides.

Editor's note: This file archetypal appeared connected the author's Substack, "Unreported Truths."

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