Tag: Theft

Attorney General Bill Schuette on Friday announced felony charges against 11 individuals from across Michigan for allegedly abusing the Medicaid-funded Independent Living Services Program (Home Help Services Program). In many cases the defendants, who were often family members of the Medicaid beneficiaries, allegedly received checks for services rendered to the beneficiaries after they died.

Schuette filed criminal charges against Ollie Brent, 59, of Pontiac; Marilyn Davis, 45, of Harper Woods; Janet Dixon, 59, of Grosse Pointe Woods; Anna Goree, 35, of Detroit; Theresa Hines, 40, of Marcellus; Kristina Jurek, 44, of Macomb; Selandra Jo Mitchell, 46, of Detroit; Marilyn Oakes, 57, of Muskegon;  Patricia Ann Tompkins, 65, of Roseville; Sherita Ware, 38, of Detroit; and Carla Williams, 44, of Pontiac.  All 11 defendants improperly received Medicaid funds intended to pay for home help services for Medicaid beneficiaries. In total, the 11 defendants defrauded the Medicaid program out of more than $60,000. Schuette says

 "Vulnerable adults across Michigan depend on Medicaid personal care services, but scammers who abuse the program threaten its integrity. The message is clear: we will not tolerate any form of health care fraud at the expense of patients and taxpayers."

Why are we as taxpayers paying dues for this organization?

Its sole purpose is to find a way to extract more money from people who buy things under the guise of "Fairness." Formed in 2000, its "about us" page says:

"The goal of this effort is to find solutions for the complexity in state sales tax systems that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court holding (Bellas Hess v. Illionis and Quill Corp. v. North Dakota) that a state may not require a seller that does not have a physical presence in the state to collect tax on sales into the state"

First, I should point out that compliance will NEVER be as simple as whatever their ultimate outcome is touted to be.  The burden on small business increases yearly with nearly every law passed by our state legislators, and especially so with the efforts of the US congress and administration.  Unable to absorb new duties/responsibilities as designated by all the elected busy bodies without significant time for compliance measures WILL destroy small business in America; resulting in higher unemployment, and deepening resentment for overreaching government.

For a little deeper look into this issue, and about the organization above go to Grass Roots In Michigan. At one point she mentions that:

"SSUTA moves towards taxation without representation in two ways. First, state lawmakers' authority regarding significant portions of state tax codes is given to an outside entity, moving representation further away from those states' citizens. Second, businesses outside of such states are subjected to taxation - not limited to, but including sales / use tax -  but have no representation in those states' governments."

Last week, following offensive comments about LGBT Michiganians [those would be Michiganders] from Michigan's Republican National Committee member Dave Agema, Michigan Republicans collectively failed to take any action to hold Agema accountable for his hate speech. Republican Gov. Snyder was complicit in this, telling a Lansing radio host "I'm not getting into that."

Hate speech my ass, signed Wolverine. Furthermore, if the Ann Arbor Nerd wasn't such a flaming Progressive surrounding himself in Obama funding secrecy, his answer for Medicaid Expansion would have also been, "I'm not getting into that."

Every stupid thing on The Left has become an ongoing distraction from reality.

H/t Market Ticker

Expanded Medicaid's fine print holds surprise: 'payback' from estate after death

As thousands of state residents enroll in Washington's expanded Medicaid program, many will be surprised at fine print: After you're dead, your estate can be billed for ordinary health-care expenses. State officials are scrambling to change the rule.
....

Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the politically conservative Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, writing in the The Washington Times, called the recovery provision "a cash cow for states to milk the poor and the middle class."

"People will think this is wonderful, this is free insurance," Orient said in an interview. "They don't realize it's really a loan, and is secured by any property they have."

Even states that are now limiting estate recovery, she warned, can change the rules again if budget problems become more intense.

Unclear rules

One reason this snafu has become so troublesome is that ACA rules appear to give those who qualify for Medicaid little choice but to accept the coverage.

People cannot receive a tax credit to subsidize their purchase of a private health plan if their income qualifies them for Medicaid, said Bethany Frey, spokeswoman for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange.

REST

Welcome to Detroit from A Wild Kristen Appeared on Vimeo.

As noted from WXYZ.

One of the team members tells 7 Action News that their professor even shed a tear while watching the ad.

Some of the ideas are familiar, but limited in ways typically embraced by establishment Republicans.

Rand Paul's visit to Detroit was precipitated by a conference call being reported by the Detroit News. In it, Senator Paul speaks of enterprise zones, with taxes so low as to "bail yourselves out". Adding to this an loosened visa incentive for a flow of foreign "entrepreneurs" into the city.

Paul, widely considered a 2016 potential presidential candidate, said he will introduce legislation Monday to create "economic freedom zones" by dramatically lowering taxes in depressed areas and loosen visa rules to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to immigrate to the city.

"We hope to create taxes so low you essentially are able to bail yourselves out," Paul said Thursday in a conference call outlining his plan.

I wonder how that would work?

Maybe something like this?

"Mr Chen, you are welcome to stay, invest, develop, and work in our country. However, you are limited to this particular region. If for some reason you are not satisfied there, I guess you are out of luck."

"Welcome to the Hotel Detroit. Love it, or get the hell out of our country.."

Which of course begs the question of what happens to those who emigrate, and decide to move somewhere a little safer than Baghdad of Michigan? When "loosening visa requirements," it seems that a genie let out is a little hard to stuff back in the lamp. Its hard to imagine 'restrictive' movement placed on those who simply seek a better life, and upon finding out that Detroit is no better than the hole they left, it is highly likely that they will indeed "seek" such a place.

And it seems we have heard those words about foreigners feeling welcomed before.

Health care exchanges that WORKED have been around for a while. Karl Denninger at the Market Ticker demonstrates how the ACA has screwed us using one of those exchanges for comparisons from 2013 to 2014.

I put it to the test, and I have determined that I will not have insurance after November of next year.

First, Thank God that we did not establish a 'Michigan Exchange' and then read the article, then compare for yourself.

High-dollar political donors associated with Michigan's labor movement are encouraged and instructed on how to hide limitless, undisclosed campaign contributions in secret slush funds, according to a leaked letter and PowerPoint presentation being distributed by Andrew Nickelhoff, the union lawyer behind Proposal 2 and 4.

The leaked private letter and PowerPoint stands in stark contrast to hypocritical public statements from supporters of Proposal 2, Nickelhoff's employers, who have insincerely and hypocritically called other organizations "shadowy."

"The scheme by Proposal 2 and 4's attorney to solicit secret, undisclosed campaign contributions is another example of Prop 2 supporter's continuing pattern of deception and hypocisy," said Nick De Leeuw, Spokesman for Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution.  "Nickelhoff infamously told voters they'd simply have to "guess" what his deceptive ballot proposal would do; now he is caught instructing donors how to hide their contributions."

In a letter dated May 9 and distributed to potential donors, Nickelhoff solicited and outlined in detail how high-dollar donors could contribute potentially millions of dollars to a secret slush fund without ever disclosing their identity.