I’m getting somewhat off track this morning but this article popped up in my alerts on Food Stamp Fraud, an issue I’ve written about many times here at RRW. The basic Food Stamp scam involves ‘mom and pop’ convenience store owners from Middle Eastern countries buying food stamps for 50 cents from the food stamp recipient and then turning it into the federal government for the full dollar. Thankfully many of those are being busted across the land.
Somehow this case was in the middle of a bunch of Food Stamp Fraud articles. Although not identified by their country of origin, the paper has seen fit to publish a photo to help the reader understand that these people are immigrants, probably from the Middle East and probably of a certain religious persuasion.
Joseph Youshaei owned 19 businesses and properties, from commercial office space in Downtown Crossing to three local Honey Dew Donut franchises. He drove a Mercedes and lived in a $650,000 Chestnut Hill house with his wife, Jila, and three children, whom the couple sent to a pricey private school.
Yet the couple claimed just $475 of weekly income from 1999 to 2005, an amount that allowed them to collect Medicaid benefits under MassHealth.
The Youshaeis pleaded guilty Monday in Suffolk Superior Court to charges of fraud and larceny for illegally obtaining those health benefits, according to a statement from the state auditor’s office.
“This is truly an unbelievable example of fraud,” said state auditor Joe DeNucci in a statement. “A wealthy family that could afford to pay for its own health insurance took money from a taxpayer-funded program meant to help those people who are truly needy and cannot afford health insurance.”
There must be some kind of worldwide underground hotline that tells people to go to America and rip off the system. Imagine what will happen if Obama-care comes to pass and the feds manage everyone’s health care from Washington.