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It’s not just Minnesota. Or just daycares. The deepest government honeypot is blue-state Medicaid.<\/p>\n
And nowhere does corruption run deeper than in New York State<\/a>, where everyone wants a piece of a $120 billion honeypot.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve seen the video.<\/p>\n Nick Shirley, a citizen journalist (aka a journalist), traveled around Minnesota looking for fraud at state-funded daycare centers largely run by Somali immigrants. He found obvious evidence of malfeasance \u2014 and attracted a worldwide audience on X.<\/p>\n DAVID MARCUS: BLUE STATE FRAUD SCANDALS HIGHLIGHT SHOCKING REALITY IN RED STATES<\/a><\/p>\n Shirley\u2019s 42-minute video has now been viewed more than 115 million times, even forcing a huffy response from Gov. Tim Walz<\/a> (last seen exaggerating his military service).<\/p>\n Shirley deserves the attention. But when it comes to waste, fraud and abuse in government programs, nothing holds a candle to healthcare spending. Especially in blue states, and especially since the Affordable Care Act and then COVID-era federal subsidies allowed expanded Medicaid coverage with an endless federal backstop.<\/p>\n And nowhere is this more evident than in New York.<\/p>\n IT’S NOT JUST MINNESOTA. DEMOCRATS HAVE CREATED WELFARE FRAUD EVERYWHERE<\/a><\/p>\n A few weeks ago, I received an email with the subject line, “Healthcare and the $2,100 Taxi Ride.” The email began:<\/p>\n “I have a friend who drives a taxi in XXX NY. He estimates that 80% of the cab fares are paid for by Medicaid\u2026<\/p>\n “Yesterday, he made a round tripper from XXX to Boston where a child had a two-hour appointment at Boston\u2019s Shriners [Children\u2019s] Hospital. The fare? $1,058.37 \u2014 EACH way. $2,116.74 in total.”<\/p>\n GOP LAWMAKER UNVEILS WALZ ACT AFTER BILLIONS LOST IN MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL<\/a><\/p>\n It appears this was not a direct pay\/bill to Medicaid, but a hospital pay<\/a> from a fund they have for such “needs”. I think we can safely assume these funds are either backed by state of federal dollars at the end of the day. His take? 37% \u2014 $783.<\/p>\n Attached to the email was a photo of the fare. The unusual name on it matches the unusual name of a child from a refugee family who was publicly reported injured in an odd accident.<\/p>\n The city where the child lives has several hospitals.<\/p>\n FBI SURGES RESOURCES TO MINNESOTA AS PATEL CALLS $250M FRAUD SCHEME ‘TIP OF ICEBERG’<\/a><\/p>\n What exactly is this hospital in a different state providing \u2014 especially when getting to an appointment and back requires a full day in the back of a taxi<\/a>?<\/p>\n How much is all of this care costing, if a single appointment costs $2,100 \u2014 the cost of a round-trip business-class, cross-country plane ticket \u2014 for transportation alone (before whatever markup the hospital is adding)?<\/p>\n And who is paying for all this care for a penniless refugee family from one of the poorest countries in the world?<\/p>\n FEDS LAUNCH ‘MASSIVE’ INVESTIGATION AFTER VIRAL VIDEO ALLEGES MINNESOTA DAYCARE FRAUD<\/a><\/p>\n The first two questions have no answer.<\/p>\n The third does, however. Local (in New York, counties and New York City contribute to Medicaid), state \u2014 and most of all \u2014 federal taxpayers<\/a>. And the spending is skyrocketing unstoppably.<\/p>\n Year after year, conservative think tanks \u2014 and sometimes even non-partisan good government groups \u2014 write papers about how out-of-control New York\u2019s Medicaid program has become. Year after year, Republican lawmakers<\/a> at the state and federal level complain. Sometimes, state and federal prosecutors even attack particularly egregious fraud.<\/p>\n RED STATE GOVERNOR TOUTS MEDICAID SAVINGS AS MINNESOTA GRAPPLES WITH WIDESPREAD FRAUD ALLEGATIONS<\/a><\/p>\n But nothing ever changes, except that the numbers get larger.<\/p>\n In 1988, New York had about 18 million people and spent about $10 billion on Medicaid. Today, the state has about 20 million people \u2014 and spends about $120 billion. Even after adjusting for inflation, New York is spending about four times as much per person.<\/p>\n In fact, after a period of somewhat slower growth in the 2000s, spending has recently accelerated again \u2014 mainly because the state\u2019s Democratic politicians have realized that the federal government will backstop more and more spending.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION<\/a><\/p>\n I expect to have more to say about New York\u2019s Medicaid program in future articles, because it is impossible to unravel the crisis in American medicine from the crisis in American medical spending \u2014 and<\/a> the honeypot New York has created captures the essence of the problem.<\/p>\n If every state spent at the same level as New York, the United States would spend about $2 trillion on Medicaid alone \u2014 yet there is no evidence that patients in New York are healthier or receive better care than those in states that spend far less.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n I am more convinced than ever that the system\u2019s out-of-control financial incentives aren\u2019t just putting the entire federal government on a fast track to financial ruin \u2014 they are leading to worse care for many, many Americans.<\/p>\n The road to hell is paved with $2,100 cab rides.<\/p>\n Editor’s note: This column first appeared on the author’s Substack, “Unreported Truths<\/a>.”<\/p>\n