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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
In Tennessee, a Medicaid mix-up could land you on a 'most wanted' list
Life was upended for LaShonia Ingram over the last year, and a shadow still follows her around.
Search her name online, and the first result includes the words "fraud" and "most wanted."
"It was horrible. I couldn't get a job," says the 42-year-old mother from Memphis, Tennessee. "All doors were being closed in my face."
The state of Tennessee accused her of living in nearby Horn Lake, Mississippi, while still being enrolled2 in the state's Medicaid program, known as TennCare. It all turned out to be a mix-up, but the damage to her reputation and finances was done.
Tennessee is one of the most aggressive states in the nation when it comes to policing possible Medicaid fraud among beneficiaries like Ingram. The state posts the names and photos of people arrested for alleged3 fraud on a government website and social media. Some even wind up on a so-called "most wanted" list, as if they were dangerous and on the run.
The list is maintained by Tennessee's Office of Inspector4 General. The office was launched in 2005 when most of the cases involved drug diversion: people were accused of using TennCare benefits to acquire massive quantities of narcotics5 to sell on the street. But as federal rules have slowed the illegal prescription6 drug market, arrests related to Medicaid are instead sweeping7 up people accused of moving out of state — often within the same community — without canceling their benefits.
An apparent clerical error leads to an arrest
Ingram was one of 28 Medicaid beneficiaries in Tennessee charged in 2022, according to the Tennessee OIG; more than a third of them were accused of not being a Tennessee resident, with many cases originating in the Memphis area where some of the suburbs are in Mississippi.
In Ingram's case, Tennessee announced her arrest in a press release, saying she "eluded8" authorities for nearly a year. Ingram says she didn't have a clue about the charges until she got a ticket for not wearing her seatbelt.
"They pulled me over, and they said, 'you have a felony warrant.' And I said, 'quit lying,'" she recalls. "I've never been in trouble a day in my life."
It took $2,000 to bond out of jail and even more to hire an attorney. Not until more than six months later did prosecutors9 show her the evidence so she could refute the charges and clear her name.
The explanation ended up being pretty straightforward10. During the time she was on Tennessee's Medicaid program and living in Memphis, she filed for divorce from her husband who lived nearby in Mississippi. She says they had been separated for years, but her driver's license11 still had the outdated12 Mississippi address.
After her arrest, Ingram showed her Tennessee lease and electric bills, and the Shelby County District Attorney dropped the felony charges.
Most states focus on health care provider fraud
Every state has an office to investigate Medicaid fraud committed by doctors and other health care providers, since that's usually where the most money can be recovered. Not as many crack down on patients like Tennessee does.
"We try to apply the law compassionately," Chad Holman, who leads the TennCare OIG, told NPR.
Some other states do have patient-focused units, but they don't necessarily name the accused publicly. For example, South Carolina keeps them anonymous13 even after they've agreed to reimburse14 the state.
Holman defends Tennessee's practice of posting a "most wanted" list for its Medicaid program. He says it's supposed to be a deterrent15: "It's not to blast anyone or defame anyone. It's to simply take care of the business that's at hand, hold people accountable and do what we're here to do," he says.
As drug-related cases have diminished, enforcement has increasingly focused on ensuring that people enrolled in TennCare live in the state. In Memphis, 20 of the 27 Medicaid fraud cases since 2019 involved questions of state residency, according to the Shelby County District Attorney. And prosecutors have dropped at least a half dozen of those cases because the evidence was so weak.
Holman says his office won't overlook low-level offenses16.
"This is not murder," he says. "But the legislature classified it as a felony, and that's the law that I'm here to enforce."
But enforcement is expensive. And Holman acknowledges it costs far more to run the TennCare fraud unit than the office will ever recoup from people on Medicaid, who are usually low-income to start with. Even if the state recovered every dollar from charges brought against beneficiaries in 2022, the total would amount to less than $900,000. The office has a budget of $6.4 million a year. Since its creation in 2005, the OIG has brought in less than $10 million and charged nearly 3,200 people with fraud, according to its own press releases.
And the rate of arrests has slowed dramatically. It now arrests fewer people in a year than it previously17 did in a single month.
A Medicaid 'cliff' is coming
At this point, about one in four Americans is on Medicaid or CHIP — the Children's Health Insurance Program. The number of people enrolled increased by more than 20 million since early 2020. And for the first time since the start of the pandemic, states are going to be verifying income and addresses over the next year. Millions of Americans could lose their Medicaid coverage18 as a result. It's up to each state to determine who is eligible19 and how to deal with potential fraud in the program.
Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, says policing fraud among TennCare beneficiaries takes time and money that could be spent on something more helpful.
"It'd be great if our leaders would get out of the gotcha game and get into the getting people healthy game," she says.
Especially now, as Medicaid programs are restarting checks on eligibility20, Johnson says recipients21 shouldn't have to worry that a mistake could eventually get them arrested.
Despite the ordeal22 she went through, Ingram is bouncing back. Still, she has legal bills to pay and has grown more frustrated23 at being ensnared by the state's Medicaid dragnet.
"They made a big mistake," she says.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 enrolled | |
adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 );登记,招收,使入伍(或入会、入学等),参加,成为成员;记入名册;卷起,包起 | |
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3 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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4 inspector | |
n.检查员,监察员,视察员 | |
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5 narcotics | |
n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 );毒品;毒 | |
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6 prescription | |
n.处方,开药;指示,规定 | |
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7 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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8 eluded | |
v.(尤指机敏地)避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 );逃避;躲避;使达不到 | |
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9 prosecutors | |
检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 ); 告发人; 起诉人; 公诉人 | |
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10 straightforward | |
adj.正直的,坦率的;易懂的,简单的 | |
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11 license | |
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许 | |
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12 outdated | |
adj.旧式的,落伍的,过时的;v.使过时 | |
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13 anonymous | |
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的 | |
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14 reimburse | |
v.补偿,付还 | |
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15 deterrent | |
n.阻碍物,制止物;adj.威慑的,遏制的 | |
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16 offenses | |
n.进攻( offense的名词复数 );(球队的)前锋;进攻方法;攻势 | |
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17 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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18 coverage | |
n.报导,保险范围,保险额,范围,覆盖 | |
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19 eligible | |
adj.有条件被选中的;(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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20 eligibility | |
n.合格,资格 | |
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21 recipients | |
adj.接受的;受领的;容纳的;愿意接受的n.收件人;接受者;受领者;接受器 | |
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22 ordeal | |
n.苦难经历,(尤指对品格、耐力的)严峻考验 | |
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23 frustrated | |
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧 | |
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