It's not just lower-income people or those with disabilities using Medicaid in the United States.
A new investigation led by the Patient First Coalition found that tens of thousands of wealthy people remain enrolled in Medicaid, the taxpayer-funded health insurance program meant for low-income and disabled Americans.
It's an issue happening nationwide, the report said, though Ohio, Arizona, and South Carolina represent some of the more egregious examples. The issue is costing American taxpayers over $200 billion annually, the Patient First Coalition says.
Shannon Burns, a senior advisor with the group, told The Center Square in a phone interview that, “What we're looking at is not reform. This is just simply asking the federal government to enforce the law.”
Burns is referring to the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019. The bipartisan law requires states to verify people’s Medicaid eligibility.
In Ohio, the Department of Medicaid checked the assets of a sample of ABD (Aged, blind, and disabled) enrollees. However, it found that over 10,000 millionaires were improperly enrolled in the program, according to the Patient First Coalition. The same is true for around 8,000 people in South Carolina and over 20,000 in Arizona.
That's the case even though Ohio and Arizona have Medicaid asset limits of $2,000. A Medicaid asset limit is the maximum value of assets an individual can own to qualify for Medicaid.
