Last week we had the largest Medicaid fraud bust in DC history and as it turns out earlier in February we were given more details on the massive 2012 Texas bust as that case heads to trial. In the DC case, the ringleader was a woman from Cameroon, and in Texas, 1/3 of the cases involve Nigerians.
Where is David Lubell and “Welcoming America” with his immigrant-entrepreneurs-bring-economic-boom-times to your “welcoming” cities mumbo-jumbo. (‘Welcoming America’ is partially funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to get your minds right about the joy immigrant diversity will bring to your town and a large part of their campaign is to convince you that hard-working immigrants are fueling the local economy.)
Readers, increasingly we see home health care businesses listed as one of those economic enterprises refugees and other immigrants bring to multi-culti cities. (Somalis here in St. Cloud!) Now we see why!
Keep in mind, as you read this, that we don’t resettle refugees from Nigeria in any large numbers, there may be some among the asylum seekers, but I would guess the largest numbers are here because they overstayed a visa—student or tourist. Also, know that Nigerians were “winning” the diversity visa lottery in such large numbers that they are barred in the upcoming cycles from that LEGAL immigrant pipeline to America.
From Dallas News. (Hat tip: the ever-vigilant ‘pungentpeppers’) Emphasis is mine:
Hundreds of North Texas Nigerian-Americans are caught up in the biggest home health care frauds ever uncovered by U.S. law enforcement.
Federal indictments were issued in 2012 against those who allegedly profited the most from half a billion dollars in fraudulent local Medicare billings. But many other Nigerian-Americans living in the area and operating small health care businesses were also involved, federal law enforcement officials say.
Those officials say most of the health care fraud in Texas is committed by Texans with no particular ethnic background. And community leaders insist most Nigerian-Americans in the health care business in the Dallas area are honest.
But law enforcement officials and leaders in the Nigerian-American community describe Dallas home health care fraud as rampant and say a surprising number of the perpetrators — a third of all cases under investigation — involve Nigerian-Americans.
Greed and lax enforcement! And, possibly a cultural predilection?
“It is embarrassing to the Nigerian community that this type of thing is going on,” said Ihekwaba, who is also president of the West Africa America Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dallas.
“It’s greed. Greed and trying to see the easy way out,” he said. “People took advantage of lax enforcement by the federal government on this issue.”
The FBI says health care fraud is the costliest crime in America. Estimates of the losses to federal health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid run from $44 billion to $80 billion a year.
Dallas has some of the highest Medicare spending in the nation. While the amounts spent on hospitals, drugs and doctors are not far off the national averages, home health care spending is far above the norm.
Over $100 million in fraud allegedly funneled through Dr. Joseph Megwa.
Between 2006 and 2012, federal law enforcement authorities allege more than 230 Dallas-area home health care agencies funneled patients to Arlington physician Joseph Megwa to approve $100.5 million in care they didn’t need. The owner of the largest home care agency in the case, Nigerian-American Ferguson Ikhile of Irving, has pleaded guilty.
But, LOL! Don’t mention Megwa’s nationality or immigration status because of backlash against immigrants! If the shoe fits!
Last month, Megwa’s attorneys asked the judge in the case to prohibit prosecutors from mentioning Megwa’s nationality or immigration status because of “a backlash in this country against immigrants, particularly immigrants of color and immigrants from Africa, who are charged with criminal offenses.”
Nothing makes Americans angrier than opening our doors to immigrants who then turn around and rip us off! As a matter of fact, we think there should be a law that when an immigrant crook is indicted, their immigration status should be made available to the public, so if they are here legally, we can begin to identify which legal programs need to be tightened up.
The next time one of your pals says, ‘I’m opposed to illegal aliens, but I’m o.k. with LEGAL immigrants,’ know that they don’t know what they are talking about!
The article at Dallas News is a long one with lots of details about how the scam is done, so I recommend reading the whole thing.