OPINION:
Minneapolis has been the epicenter of government corruption for some time, and for the past few months, Americans have been treated to a barrage of news focused on the singular fact that your tax dollars have been shipped to various groups, mostly immigrant Somalis, in a variety of ways and in varying amounts.
The experience has confirmed what many of us, especially those who have worked in the federal government, have believed for a number of years: namely, that the transfer payment side of the business (about three-quarters of the enterprise) very much has the vibe and feel of a swindle.
Consequently, you will probably not be surprised to learn that Minnesota is not alone in shady dealings involving your tax dollars. A few weeks ago, Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services about reports that the state of New York has been failing to abide by current law on matching federal Medicaid funds.
Mr. Comer wants CMS staff to review allegations that New York may have been wrong to withhold Medicaid funds from local, low-income hospitals to bolster its own failing balance sheet. The committee also wants CMS to clarify what sources can and should pay the non-federal share of the Medicaid payments to poorer hospitals.
Why would they ask New York about that? Well, it turns out that New York may have forced at least one hospital, Nassau University Medical Center, which serves mostly those on Medicaid or Medicare or the uninsured — in other words, those up against it — to cover the portion of the federal match that should have been covered by the state itself. If that sounds sketchy, it is.
The committee also noted that New York may have been engaged in this scheme for more than 20 years, meaning the medical center and its patients would have lost more than $1 billion.
The whole thing gets even more shady. When questions were raised and lawsuits were filed to recoup funds sent to the state through this scheme, Gov. Kathy Hochul had the legislature pass a budget that allowed her to execute a hostile takeover of the parent company of the Nassau University Medical Center.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the takeover also removed control of the hospital from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running to replace Ms. Hochul as governor, and led to the firing of the center’s CEO, Megan Ryan, and other top executives who had blown the whistle. Nothing sends a message of innocence more than using the state legislature to exact retribution on your accusers.
Ms. Ryan was the chief whistleblower in this instance. After taking over as CEO in 2024, she took a hard look at the accounts and figured out that New York had been requiring the medical center to post the state share of the match for federal funds. As a practical matter, that means New York was cheating the medical center, as much as 80% of whose patients are on Medicaid or Medicare or are uninsured, by requiring them to pay the state match for federal funds. As most of us would do, Ms. Ryan sought legal advice and got the unsurprising opinion from the former general counsel of the New York Department of Health that the process was improper.
As a practical matter, it very much looks like the state of New York may have been stealing (albeit indirectly) from the patients of Nassau University Medical Center, and by its silence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was either tolerating that or was (maybe worse) unaware of it. When that possibility was brought to the attention of the current governor, she responded by shooting the messenger.
Ordinarily, questions about who gets federal funding and how it is distributed and accounted for are small beer. In a system where everyone seems to be on the take, caring about one facet of the racket can seem pointless. Yet the reality is this: Nassau University Medical Center is the hospital of last resort for many who live in that part of the world. It cares for those who have nowhere else to go.
What kind of morally compromised person steals money from the poor and the sick and dying?
The good news is that many people are now asking the same questions that cost Ms. Ryan her job. Let’s hope that Mr. Comer and his excellent team on the House Oversight Committee see this through to the end. Taxpayers and the patients at Nassau University Medical Center deserve no less.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times.
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