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The United States is far from alone in having government benefits programs, but immigrants must still navigate different customs and procedures here than in the countries of their previous residences. Inadvertent mistakes happen. So does fraud. An article in The New York Daily News tells the story of a woman who received well over $50,000 in Medicaid benefits despite her family’s financial position, which was well above the poverty line.
To give the benefit of a doubt, sometimes immigrants sign up to receive benefits, but they don’t always understand the requirements for qualification. (In order to qualify for Medicaid government benefits, the recipient must meet a certain income level.) The story states that because the woman misrepresented her family’s income for a decade, she set records for the amount of money she stole from the Bronx Medicaid program. During that time, the story also notes that her husband owned two properties in the Bronx and one in Pennsylvania, and operated a family electrical contracting business. She and her husband also shared a joint bank account that contained more than $100,000 when discovered by investigators. (With that much money in the bank, at least she was able to pay restitution.)
While investigators found that this woman’s fraudulent actions set records, advocates argued that it was very likely that she continued receiving Medicaid benefits because of a cultural misunderstanding. (Claiming $85,000 that’s not rightfully yours is quite a misunderstanding in any culture.)The investigation was triggered by the fact that she was not enrolled in any other government benefits program that would normally correspond with the profile she used to apply for Medicaid. (Perhaps this is the silver lining for the government and taxpayers.)
After the woman pleaded guilty to a grand larceny charge and paid back more than $85,000, she was sentenced to five years of probation for her illegal acts. (Evidently, sometimes record-setting crimes do not beget record-setting punishments.)
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