Latest / Brian Thomas / AFP - Medicaid Fraud

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AFP - Medicaid Fraud · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Talk station seven thirty. Here I fifty five KCD talk station,
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  Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday. It's that time of week today with his
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  Speaker 1: state director for Americans for Prosperity Action hat On. Welcome back,
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  Speaker 1: Donald and Neil. It's a pleasure to have you on
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  Speaker 1: the show today, Brian. Always a pleasure to be with you.
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  Speaker 1: How any hats do you have anyway?
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  Speaker 2: Too many? And I don't even like wearing hats quite honestly,
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  Speaker 2: I never wear hats anyholl I can I just I
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  Speaker 2: know we're gonna talk about medicaid fraud.
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned Vida Gramaswamy's coming up on the program after
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  Speaker 1: the top of the hour News. He had an op
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  Speaker 1: ed piece in the Wall Street Journal today talking about
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  Speaker 1: his way to reform to Medicaid, basically to defeat medicaid
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  Speaker 1: fraud by letting states keep a larger share of what
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  Speaker 1: they recover rather than sending it back to the Feds.
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  Speaker 1: And that's all well and good, but I just wanted
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  Speaker 1: to get your initial reaction, Donald Trump Man. He is
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  Speaker 1: scoring some big wins in so far as who he
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  Speaker 1: is endorsing. Yesterday, Thomas Massey's lost at goal Ryan another
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  Speaker 1: illustration of that. And I've just been sort of wondering
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  Speaker 1: out loud and just want to hit you over the
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  Speaker 1: head with it. Out of the brut question, if the
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  Speaker 1: money wasn't there in that race, if it was just
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump saying, don't vote for mass you vote for
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  Speaker 1: Ed Golrain, and there weren't literally millions and millions of
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  Speaker 1: pack dollars and outside money influence in it, do you
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  Speaker 1: think that really had the profound impact on it? Or
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  Speaker 1: was it just Donald Trump's endorsement.
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  Speaker 2: Wiser men than me will do the do the analysis,
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  Speaker 2: and they'll send it to the data nerds. We'll do
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  Speaker 2: even deeper analysis, and then we'll all forget about it
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  Speaker 2: for the next election. But you know, I think you will.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's what you see in elect But what
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  Speaker 2: you do see in elections though, in all seriousness, right,
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  Speaker 2: is it's one thing to put endorsements out there, but
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  Speaker 2: if you don't have the money the resources to get
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  Speaker 2: that message to you know, penetrate the minds of the
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  Speaker 2: voter to help connect them to that message, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: go anywhere. So certainly the money has an impact, and
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  Speaker 2: that's not necessarily nefarious or dark intention here, right, But
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  Speaker 2: you know it takes resources to get the message out there.
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  Speaker 2: It's you know, you can't just you know, word of
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  Speaker 2: mouth doesn't just work the way you know it might
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  Speaker 2: have years ago. And so yeah, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the financial resources certainly have an impact, but at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, the voters make those decisions themselves
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  Speaker 2: with the information they're given or seek. We need more people, though,
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  Speaker 2: I would say soft pitch for the work we do it.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, you see, you're doing exactly why I asked you
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  Speaker 1: the question. You're pivoting over. The better inform the voters are,
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  Speaker 1: the better the choices they will make. And that's why
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  Speaker 1: I'm always critical of the fact that money has such
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  Speaker 1: a profound influence and you can literally lie in a
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  Speaker 1: campaign ad and people will say, oh, listen, I heard this,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore I'm going to vote for that guy, when
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  Speaker 1: in fact, if you did a little bit of research
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  Speaker 1: or maybe you had an actual conversation with the voters,
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  Speaker 1: they would understand what the truth is in the face
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  Speaker 1: of the various lies perpetuated by well everyone in politics.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's why we do doors, right, We do the
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  Speaker 2: digital ads, we send the mail. But I'll tell you what.
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  Speaker 2: The doors cut through the noise, and it's those conversations,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, you need two things to happen though.
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  Speaker 2: You need on grassroots out there doing that, but then
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  Speaker 2: you also need to have, you know, voters who want
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  Speaker 2: to be receptive to that message. And so you might catch,
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  Speaker 2: you know, somebody when they're cutting their grass and they're
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  Speaker 2: not ready to talk politics. That's why you got to
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  Speaker 2: go back and knock the door again. But at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, you can cut through the spending
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  Speaker 2: noise with with some good grassroots work. Doesn't always work,
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  Speaker 2: but it's a key part of the process, and it's
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  Speaker 2: really our civic responsibility to get it there.
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  Speaker 1: It is and do that one. And on that note,
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  Speaker 1: the civic responsibility note, I feel that maybe some of
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  Speaker 1: the massive voters might say, screw it. They went after
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  Speaker 1: my guy. You know, Donald Trump was mean about it,
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  Speaker 1: and all this money from these outside lobbies. I am
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  Speaker 1: not going to vote for ed Gowrain cause well he
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  Speaker 1: defeated my guy. If they have that attitude and they
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  Speaker 1: won't vote in November or otherwise, maybe won't make a
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  Speaker 1: choice for gall Rain over his opponent, which is a
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  Speaker 1: woman named Melissa Strange, that's going to secure a secure
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  Speaker 1: a Democrat victory. I'm the kind of guy that's like, well,
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  Speaker 1: settle for the good if you don't get the great,
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  Speaker 1: because if you don't settle for the good, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to get all. Maybe Melissa's strange.
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  Speaker 2: I mean the day I've had money many many wednesdays
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  Speaker 2: after an election, where very disappointed with the results and
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  Speaker 2: ready to just you know, pick up your toys and
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  Speaker 2: go home. But I think, you know, you need to
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  Speaker 2: have a long view point perspective on these things. Right,
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  Speaker 2: one election can have a major impact on the direction
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  Speaker 2: of the country. But you know, I think in the
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  Speaker 2: in the long run, we want to stay focused on
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  Speaker 2: making sure that we're supporting folks are going to be
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  Speaker 2: for limited government, lower taxes. And you know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure the specifics of that race, of the
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  Speaker 2: candidate's there.
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  Speaker 1: That's okay.
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  Speaker 2: You know, voters should be looking for.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody on the planet seem to be looking at that
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  Speaker 1: one yesterday, So there's no reason I bring it up.
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  Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts and analysis on that. And
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  Speaker 1: now we're gonna pause. We'll pivot back to why you
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  Speaker 1: came on the program. Medicaid fraud. One of the things
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  Speaker 1: we've got Medicaid oversight of eveg Ramasom. He's got some
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  Speaker 1: good ideas. We can talk a little bit about that,
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  Speaker 1: but also fiscal responsibility and sustainability more with AFP State
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  Speaker 1: Director AFP Action and Donovan and Neil. Don't go away.
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  Speaker 1: It's five right now and I want you to get
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  Speaker 1: in touch with QC forty you thint about karc de
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  Speaker 1: talk station Happy Wednesday, Brian Thomas with Donovan and Eil
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  Speaker 1: with the State Director for Americans for Prosperity Action cap ON.
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  Speaker 1: Americans for Prosperity is there for you, my friends, and
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  Speaker 1: they will help you do the door knocking train you
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  Speaker 1: walk you through it with you and Donovan. You and
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  Speaker 1: I have talked so many times over the years about
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  Speaker 1: that door to door knocking and rarely do you encounter
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  Speaker 1: some jerk that you don't want to deal with. So
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  Speaker 1: the likelihood of that, apparently statistically is very small. So
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  Speaker 1: to the extent you're worried about being uncomfortable, AFP is
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  Speaker 1: going to help you through that process. So anyway, moving forward,
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  Speaker 1: you have vv ramise from me Donovan, as I mentioned
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  Speaker 1: showing up on the program at top of their news,
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  Speaker 1: He's got some ideas about dealing with Medicaid fraud, and
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  Speaker 1: I know that's a topic you want to talk about,
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  Speaker 1: Medicaid oversight. The Daily Wire series that came out really
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  Speaker 1: raise some serious questions about what in God's name is
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  Speaker 1: going on here in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: Donovan, Oh, yeah, as you can imagine, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: grassroots communities around the state are fired up by this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, anytime there's fraud waste abuse in you know,
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  Speaker 2: state federal government, those are taxpayer dollars going down the drain,
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  Speaker 2: good money after bad and we want to see it
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  Speaker 2: rooted out. And I think, you know, as we've this
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  Speaker 2: is something that we highlight in a number of ways,
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  Speaker 2: especially as we you know, seek to you know, empower
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  Speaker 2: families with school choice or move Ohio to that zero
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  Speaker 2: percent income tax place. Yeah, if we've got fraud, waste
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  Speaker 2: and abuse in the system, that's money that isn't able
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  Speaker 2: to be spent going to its proper purpose and keeps
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  Speaker 2: us from getting the big bull things done we want
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  Speaker 2: to see happen here in the Buckeye State.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and it's so much fraud by all accounts, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're talking billions of dollars here, and when they go
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  Speaker 1: ahead improve office buildings like multiple, multiple of these Medicaid
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  Speaker 1: facilities all located in one place. When you walk through
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  Speaker 1: and there's no one around, and you see the concentration
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  Speaker 1: of claims paid in Franklin County alone, it's way way
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  Speaker 1: off any statistical likelihood of absent fraud that so much
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  Speaker 1: of the medicaid money could go to one specific area
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  Speaker 1: of the state. I mean, all of this screams out
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  Speaker 1: loud to anybody's responsible for oversight. Something is wrong here.
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  Speaker 1: And yet this has gone on for such a long time,
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  Speaker 1: and I guess I just wonder. And dak Ramasomi's plan is, well,
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  Speaker 1: let states keep more of what they recover from the
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  Speaker 1: fraud in Medicaid, and I understand that's a good idea,
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  Speaker 1: but we do get to keep some of it. And
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  Speaker 1: isn't looking out for the taxpayer dollars something that every
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  Speaker 1: elected official should be interested in doing, even if they
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  Speaker 1: don't get enough that they think it's worth it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it just real quick on the on the oversight piece, right,
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  Speaker 2: that's what we expect the executive chiche to.
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  Speaker 1: Do, right, that's my point.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Marine Cochrane wasn't minding the store, and that
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  Speaker 2: as these issues are popular because this came up last
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  Speaker 2: year as well, right investigating where some of these money,
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  Speaker 2: these federal moneys were going into these these places in Columbus.
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  Speaker 2: Dwine administration was dismissed it. I think the quote was
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  Speaker 2: even you know, this is the cost of doing business. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that's a problem, right when you have an executive that
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  Speaker 2: looks that way, coupled with the fact that the legislature
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  Speaker 2: multiple times has tried to implement oversight yet is vetoed
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  Speaker 2: by by the administration, and so it's just, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's very clear how much of a blind eye has
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  Speaker 2: been been turned to this problem here in the state.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't it more than a blind eye?
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  Speaker 2: Though?
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  Speaker 1: I mean willful it willful, It seems willful. And I
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  Speaker 1: go back to the Daily wirepiece which pointed out that
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  Speaker 1: Congress passed a law I believe in like twenty fifteen
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  Speaker 1: that required electronic verification that sort of GPS coordination, proving
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  Speaker 1: that the caregiver is actually where he or she says
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  Speaker 1: that they are when they're providing services. A little bit
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  Speaker 1: of oversight there. That that is a law on the books,
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  Speaker 1: and it's an obligation under the Medicaid program if you
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  Speaker 1: receive money from Medicaid, which we do, but that it
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  Speaker 1: was turned off in Ohio. I mean, I don't I
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  Speaker 1: haven't gotten answer to the question who is responsible for
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  Speaker 1: issuing the order to turn off the electronic verification. But
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  Speaker 1: that was a source of a lot of road.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the buck stops with the executive, right, Yeah, it
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  Speaker 2: also need an executive who's going to have oversight over
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  Speaker 2: there over the people they appoint to run these programs.
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  Speaker 2: And I think I think Speaker Hoffmann had said it,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there was more of a focus on getting
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  Speaker 2: money out the door than actually making sure that money
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  Speaker 2: is going to the right people. And I think we
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  Speaker 2: need to, you know, we need to see that shift
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  Speaker 2: in our next governor to make sure we're getting you know,
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  Speaker 2: the results, because look, this is a money that is
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  Speaker 2: spent on, you know, in a fraudulent, wasteful, or abusive manner,
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  Speaker 2: is money that isn't going to the people these programs
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  Speaker 2: were designed for. And what that does is it it
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  Speaker 2: makes the taxpayer who is paying for these programs less
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  Speaker 2: confident in their ability to work, but also hurts the
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  Speaker 2: actual families, the people that these programs were designed to support.
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  Speaker 2: We all benefit by getting to the bottom of the fraud, waste,
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  Speaker 2: and abuse. But it's going to take you know, it
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  Speaker 2: takes executive leadership to implement those reforms that the legislative
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  Speaker 2: branch has and I'm sure we'll continue to send over
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  Speaker 2: to h to make these programs strong for.
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  Speaker 1: The future and in an effort to make Ohio more
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  Speaker 1: competitive we have well, maybe getting ound of fraud, waste
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  Speaker 1: and abuse, we will be an advantage for Ohio compared
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  Speaker 1: to a lot of other states. But vike Ramasom he
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  Speaker 1: planned to phase out Ohio income taxes over time. Can
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  Speaker 1: this be accomplished? I know this is a goal of
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  Speaker 1: Americans for prosperity. I guess he initially plans to eliminate
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  Speaker 1: income tax on capital gains, stocks, bonds proper to other investments,
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  Speaker 1: and then gradually broaden it. We're currently at what two
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  Speaker 1: point four percent in the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately two point seven two point seven I think we'll
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  Speaker 2: get We're going to work to get to two point
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  Speaker 2: four here real soon, though, can the state We're going
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  Speaker 2: to keep ticking that down.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's ten billion dollars a year widely reported that
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  Speaker 1: goes a lot of money goes to schools, of course,
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  Speaker 1: and other programs. But can we continue to function as
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  Speaker 1: a state and provide what's necessary from state government in
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  Speaker 1: the absence of the income tax. There's the kind of
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  Speaker 1: big million dollar question going on there.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, we actually did a study alongside our friends
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  Speaker 2: at the Buckeye Institute a few years ago to answer
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  Speaker 2: that question. And it's possible, and it's it's really simple,
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  Speaker 2: and it's actually the formula we've used to get to
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  Speaker 2: where we are today. From nine brackets down to one.
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  Speaker 2: All we need to do well two things. We need
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  Speaker 2: a legislature to continue to tick that number down, and
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  Speaker 2: then what we need is the government to not grow
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  Speaker 2: as much as it does. So for instance, I think
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  Speaker 2: last biennium the state budget grew about seven percent. By
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  Speaker 2: any before that, I think it was about ten to
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  Speaker 2: twelve percent. If we would just grow we can still
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  Speaker 2: grow the government, believe it or not, Brian, which is
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  Speaker 2: hurtful to good fiscal conservatives like you and I to hear.
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  Speaker 1: But we can.
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  Speaker 2: But if we just don't grow it as much, what happens,
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  Speaker 2: right is it's the Laugher curve that money finds its
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  Speaker 2: way into other forms of tax revenue. But the key
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  Speaker 2: here is the people, right, the workers and the state
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  Speaker 2: of Ohio. The people earning income working jobs to make
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  Speaker 2: ends meet, they decide how that money is going to
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  Speaker 2: get spent, rather than the government taking it out of
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  Speaker 2: their paycheck before it ever hits their pocketbook. It's a
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  Speaker 2: key fundamental difference in belief of does the government decide
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  Speaker 2: how best to use your money or do the people
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  Speaker 2: know how best to use their money? We believe the
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  Speaker 2: people do, and as zero percent income tax affirms that
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  Speaker 2: it's possible. And I think if a couple that just
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  Speaker 2: don't grow the government so dang much, so fast, prince
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  Speaker 2: the bowl with rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse. A
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  Speaker 2: forty billion dollar program. Medicaid has grown into it's twice
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  Speaker 2: as much as what we spend K through twelve education
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  Speaker 2: here in the state. And there's no end in sight
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  Speaker 2: if we don't get some serious reform under our belts
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  Speaker 2: here and right size of this program.
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  Speaker 1: Well, at least we have a work obligation for the
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  Speaker 1: medicaid issue here in the state of Ohio, So maybe
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  Speaker 1: that'll curb it back a little bit. How about just
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  Speaker 1: capping the size of government at the rate of inflation,
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  Speaker 1: Well that.
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  Speaker 2: Would be that would be that would be great.
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  Speaker 1: So much of those ten percent years, although we do
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  Speaker 1: some bumpy rides when it comes to inflation. Donald and
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  Speaker 1: Neil Americans for Prosperity State Director. Where do you want
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  Speaker 1: my listeners to go? Donovan, Always end with a website
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: so they can get in touch with you and the
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: crew at Americans for Prosperity.
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  Speaker 2: Go to Buckeye Blueprint dot com. Buckeye Blueprint dot com.
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  Speaker 2: Join one of our local chapter meetings coming up in
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  Speaker 2: a community near you.
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  Speaker 1: And make some friends at the same time. Donovan, speaking
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  Speaker 1: of friends, we'll talk next week. Have a wonderful week
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  Speaker 1: and keep up the great work you as well. Brian
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  Speaker 1: some forty eight. Right now, if you have Kcity Talk station, Joe,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: if you open to the phone lines,