{"id":646745,"date":"2026-05-16T13:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/646745\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T13:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:23:09","slug":"fact-checking-jd-vances-and-janet-mills-dueling-statements-on-healthcare-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/646745\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-checking JD Vance\u2019s and Janet Mills\u2019 dueling statements on healthcare fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance visited Bangor on Thursday<\/a>\u00a0to tout the federal government\u2019s crackdown on Medicaid fraud, singling out Gov. Janet Mills for failing to take the issue seriously.<\/p>\n

The Democratic governor fired back shortly after with her own account of the state\u2019s record on fraud\u00a0prevention\u00a0in the state\u2019s\u00a0$4.7 billion MaineCare program, which is roughly 60% federally financed.<\/p>\n

Vance embellished details of a fraud case and overstated what federal auditors found in a review of Maine, while Mills ignored critical findings from the state auditor and underplayed the state\u2019s crucial role in rooting out fraud.<\/p>\n

Vance likened a critical audit of autism services to fraud.<\/p>\n

Vance overstated the findings of a January report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, which flagged about $45.6 million in Medicaid payments<\/a>\u00a0for children with autism in Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk about something we\u2019ve seen in Minneapolis, but also in Maine: We\u2019ve seen people go out there and say that they\u2019re providing services to autistic children, when, in reality, they maybe don\u2019t have any children at all, or they certainly don\u2019t have autistic children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But that report expressly did not call those payments fraud or even indicative of fraud. Auditors called them \u201cimproper\u201d or \u201cpotentially improper,\u201d tying the problem to lack of documentation and oversight and not fabricated patients. They also noted they did not use a medical reviewer to assess whether services were medically necessary, which would be required to establish fraud.<\/p>\n

Maine was also not uniquely targeted. The review was part of a multi-state effort that found at least $56 million in improper payments in Republican-led Indiana<\/a>\u00a0and at least $18.5 million<\/a>\u00a0in Wisconsin, which has a Democratic governor but a Republican-led Legislature. This effort to review the program began under former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Vance said the woman at the center of a fraud case is \u201can illegal immigrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is a U.S. citizen, according to court filings and her attorney.<\/p>\n

Vance was referring to Rakiya Mohamed, an Auburn resident charged last February along with her mother and another individual for allegedly billing MaineCare for interpreter services that never happened. The case against her was first reported by the Bangor Daily News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The scheme, according to a federal indictment, involved billing for interpreting hours through a healthcare provider and paying fictitious employees at interpreting companies for those services. The provider, Bright Future Healthier You, has not been accused of wrongdoing. Mohamed initially pleaded not guilty but signed a plea agreement in January and pleaded guilty to two of three charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a citizen, graduated from Bates College with honors, and earned a graduate degree from the University of Texas,\u201d her lawyer, Richard Berne, wrote in an email. \u201cThe Vice President\u2019s statement is just another example of the Administration\u2019s blatant, irresponsible use of inaccurate information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance also claimed Mohamed collected $15 million in fraudulent payments. That is also not accurate. That roughly equates to the total amount that Bright Future Healthier You billed MaineCare between 2019 and 2024, according to data obtained by the BDN.<\/p>\n

The initial estimated tax loss due to Mohamed\u2019s conduct was more than $456,000, court records show. Under her plea agreement, she owes $51,000 in restitution. She faces up to six years in prison and fines up to $500,000, though her plea agreement will likely reduce both.<\/p>\n

In her response, Gov. Mills understated the state government\u2019s role in fighting back against fraud and overstated its efforts.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Vance\u2019s remarks, Mills issued a statement of her own, calling Vance\u2019s comments \u201cnothing but a weak attempt to distract from [Trump\u2019s] failing agenda.\u201d The state refers credible fraud allegations to the attorney general\u2019s office, and investigations are often coordinated with the federal government, she said.<\/p>\n

While that is basically true, State Auditor Matt Dunlap, found in a March report<\/a>\u00a0that the state\u2019s internal Medicaid fraud prevention is lacking. His report said the Program Integrity Unit, the state\u2019s internal auditing arm, \u201cmay not provide adequate monitoring of all Medicaid services.\u201d <\/p>\n

The department disputed that assessment, but Dunlap stood by it by saying it failed to provide evidence of required oversight procedures.<\/p>\n

Over the last five years, the Program Integrity Unit averaged 144 cases a year and referred 22 cases to the attorney general\u2019s office. Attorney General Aaron Frey\u2019s office secured 11 criminal convictions related to MaineCare fraud over that same span. Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, have not brought a criminal healthcare fraud charge in Maine since 2019.<\/p>\n

One number cuts in Mills\u2019 favor: Maine\u2019s improper payment rate is 2.4%, less than half the national average of 6.1%, according to the state\u2019s response to federal oversight questions.<\/p>\n

Bangor Daily News investigative reporter Sawyer Loftus may be reached at sloftus@bangordailynews.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vice President JD Vance visited Bangor on Thursday\u00a0to tout the federal government\u2019s crackdown on Medicaid fraud, singling out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[9371,7056,97,252,253],"class_list":["post-646745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-explain","tag-free","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}