Mehmet Oz made claim about audits, but experts say he misidentified routine administrative errors
The administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, recently claimed that an audit revealed “more than $1bn of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants”, but experts say the audits were unrelated to immigration, and that rhetoric like this could make immigrant families – regardless of legal status – afraid to seek necessary medical care.
Leo Cuello, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, noted that he has not “seen what this audit is”, but “based on the reporting, it appears that it is related to administrative errors in state claiming for matching funds, which is a relatively common occurrence, and which CMS monitors closely as they should”.
For example, it is common for states to ask for federal reimbursement for programs that are supposed to receive state funding exclusively, such as Meals on Wheels. Cuello said these types of audits are “the most vanilla and normal thing that happens all the time. States are constantly sending CMS claims, and CMS is constantly reviewing whether or not they’re paying something properly.” Reporting from Oregon Live and KFF confirms that the audits were routine.
Why is it a fine line? Should we not have some standards for the people representing us? Just a base level of qualifications? Or is the job of government administrator really something that anyone at all is allowed to do? The consequences of these roles are some of the most widely impactful of nearly any other jobs in our society, and it’s frankly quite appalling to me that we just accept that a position of such consequence should be allowed to be occupied by whoever a single person decides. Why is the single criteria for these jobs simply whoever the president wants?
It’s this. Voting for a party that cares about qualifications would be better than allowing a law that says some people can’t hold office.
The republiQan electorate is completely mindfucked. In a normal situation there wouldn’t be such a gross dereliction of duty. But we’re dealing with a cult created by a huge network of propaganda backed by the richest people on earth. And none of them care about it.