Ohio State Superintendent Keith Faber. Official photo.
In two recent media appearances, Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber issued statements that sounded supportive of ending at least some parts of Ohio’s Medicaid program.
When asked about this, campaign staffers did not clarify his comments, saying only that Faber supports the lawful operate of Medicaid dollars and does not support their illegal operate.
A federally and state-funded health care program for the penniless covers over 3 million Ohioans and costs to over $40 billion annually.
It was created with Medicare in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s program Big society.
In April, President Donald Trump said that “impossible“ for the federal government to fund Medicaid, Medicare and child care, as Trump has asked $1.5 trillion in additional military spending to finance the war with Iran when he made the statement.
This comes after he signed a bill last summer with massive tax cuts definitely favors the affluent AND nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over 10 years.
With the brunt of the cuts scheduled for Jan. 1, Trump’s top lieutenants have highlighted fraud among providers in the program, without saying much about health care conglomerates accused of overload State Medicaid programs by huge quantities.
On June 4, during an appearance in Ohio, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said that Medicaid provider fraud is a “crisis” that has “crucified our tax programs and robbed the American purse for too long.” But KFF, a nonpartisan health care research organization, said yes there is no reliable measure of supplier fraud.
John Kulewicz, the Democratic candidate for Ohio attorney general, said there is a plain reason why Republicans so often play the provider fraud game.
“I think they want to get rid of Medicaid,” he said in an interview.
Kulewicz pointed to two media appearances on May 5 by Faber, his Republican opponent.
Faber appeared Bruce Hooley show in Salem Media self-proclaimed “Christian and conservative media company“
“We spend tens of billions of dollars on Medicaid every year in Ohio, so a very small percentage loss is a huge dollar amount,” Faber said at 2:37. “And fraudsters are figuring out how to take advantage of that, and it shows throughout the system.”
He added: “It goes back to the question: Why do we have government programs that do so many things for so many people and we expect people not to lie, cheat and steal…? I tend to be a small government conservative. I think you get rid of some of these unnecessary programs and we’ll all be better off.”
Faber’s office and campaign were asked whether he supported ending Medicaid altogether or part of it in Ohio. Did Faber believe that millions of Ohioans should lose health care coverage due to lax enforcement of fraud laws – a position Ohio Republicans have been responsible for since 2011?
In an email, Faber campaign adviser Matt Dole did not respond to these specific questions, stating instead: “Keith Faber supports the lawful operate of Medicaid dollars as a safety net for Ohioans in need. He opposes the illegal operate of Medicaid and is a certified state auditor to combat fraud and waste. There is no conflict between these positions.”
Faber and other Republicans particularly highlighted reports of fraud in federally waived programs that allow Ohio Medicaid to pay for home care for low-income residents.
Amid the alleged abuses, state Attorney General Andy Wilson announced an indictment of Ohio on June 23 as part of the Trump administration’s “2026” program Eliminating fraud in the national health service.”
The operation “led to criminal charges against 455 defendants nationwide for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes totaling more than $6.5 billion,” Wilson’s office said.
The statement did not specify how much of that was attributable to Medicaid-funded home care programs.
The statement said that as part of a national “removal” five people in the Buckeye State have been charged with defrauding Medicaid health care programs out of $127,000.
In one case, a Cincinnati woman admitted billing Medicaid $110,000 for 16 hours of care but provided services only from the time she finished her daily work until midnight, Wilson’s office said.
In another statement, an Elyria woman said the $1,500 paid in fraudulent bills “resulted from personal hardship and she expressed a desire to return the money,” the statement said.
The largest fraud allegation was not related to home health. Wilson’s office said a Westerville doctor was accused of improperly billing $200,000 for unprovided pediatric behavioral health services.
On May 5 on WLW radio in Cincinnati, Faber expressed his skepticism about home care exemptions.
“The problem is that it’s very difficult to catch abuse because the grandmother will never hand over her granddaughter or daughter who should be taking care of her, and she sits all day and plays with her cell phone,” Faber said at 1:16:18.Sunday Nights with Bill Cunningham.”.
“So that’s the problem and, frankly, why the Legislature will probably have to roll back this waiver and go back to … eliminating these programs.”
Faber’s office and campaign were asked to provide a documented case in which someone in Ohio neglected a family member in such a situation. None provided.
Cunningham, a conservative talk radio host in Cincinnati, asked Faber, “Is this mainly focused on immigrant communities like Somalis?”
Faber again raised the question of whether there should be home care exemptions.
“Certainly ordinary Americans,” Faber replied. “You see it everywhere. But we know that these programs are used very widely in various immigrant populations, including the Somali population. But there is abuse everywhere and the question is: why do we have this program?”
