Vance takes his fight against fraud to red Ohio, muddying waters for GOP's Vivek Ramaswamy
>Vice President JD Vance’s decision to extend his fight against Medicaid fraud beyond Democratic states to his red home state of Ohio has set off a scramble among the state’s Republicans — including his close ally Vivek Ramaswamy, the party’s nominee for governor.
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>A day before Ramaswamy won the state’s May 5 primary, Vance posted to X that he was directing the anti-fraud task force he leads for President Donald Trump to turn its sights on the Buckeye State. The decision came the same day a Daily Wire investigation revealed rampant apparent abuses within Ohio’s Medicaid-funded home health program.
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>Within days, U.S. House Republicans created a new Task Force on Defending constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses. They declared the fraud allegations in Ohio their first target.
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>It was a notable pivot, given that Vance’s highest-profile sanctions so far have been targeted at blue states, including Minnesota, California and Maine. He sought initially to tamp down criticism that the anti-fraud effort was partisan — noting some Republican states, including Florida, had been among those cited — but later specifically called out Democrats as the ones who were enabling Medicaid scammers.
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>The mixed messaging has muddied the waters for Ramaswamy — who seized the opportunity on Tuesday to declare the fight against Medicaid fraud his “absolute top priority.” His plan to reduce healthcare costs and “crush” Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse includes renegotiating Ohio’s deal with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve the percentage it receives in fraud-fighting incentives and to streamline the program’s bureaucracy.
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>Modeled after a waiver Tennessee negotiated during the first Trump administration, the new arrangement would save $3.1 billion that could be pumped back into healthcare savings.
>
>A day before Ramaswamy won the state’s May 5 primary, Vance posted to X that he was directing the anti-fraud task force he leads for President Donald Trump to turn its sights on the Buckeye State. The decision came the same day a Daily Wire investigation revealed rampant apparent abuses within Ohio’s Medicaid-funded home health program.
>
>Within days, U.S. House Republicans created a new Task Force on Defending constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses. They declared the fraud allegations in Ohio their first target.
>
>It was a notable pivot, given that Vance’s highest-profile sanctions so far have been targeted at blue states, including Minnesota, California and Maine. He sought initially to tamp down criticism that the anti-fraud effort was partisan — noting some Republican states, including Florida, had been among those cited — but later specifically called out Democrats as the ones who were enabling Medicaid scammers.
>
>The mixed messaging has muddied the waters for Ramaswamy — who seized the opportunity on Tuesday to declare the fight against Medicaid fraud his “absolute top priority.” His plan to reduce healthcare costs and “crush” Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse includes renegotiating Ohio’s deal with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve the percentage it receives in fraud-fighting incentives and to streamline the program’s bureaucracy.
>
>Modeled after a waiver Tennessee negotiated during the first Trump administration, the new arrangement would save $3.1 billion that could be pumped back into healthcare savings.