Why Kansas Will Not Pay Back $18 Million In Child Welfare Fraud

Said Kansas to the U.S. DHHS OIG

To begin, let us get one thing straight.

Kansas does not have to give back a red cent and neither do any of the other States busted by the HHS OIG for child welfare fraud.

Besides, Kansas used the money for political campaigns, personal inurement and to pay off some dividends to its investors of the state's social impact bonds.

$17 Million Reasons How Kansas Pays Child Welfare Social Impact Bonds


In the spirit of fuchsia...

Kansas took millions it shouldn’t have, federal probe says. But will it give it back?

Kansas took nearly $18 million in federal funds that it shouldn’t have, a federal government watchdog says. It wants the state to give the money back.

There has yet to be a HHS Decisions Appeal Board ruling on this, which means the federal government has not even commenced the process.

Kansas rejects the findings.

This rejection takes the challenge to the next administrative level and which will not see the light of day in a civil nor criminal court of law and can go on for years.

“We don’t believe we did anything wrong,” said Angela de Rocha, a spokeswoman for KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program.

Of course they did nothing wrong because Kansas has been submitting false claims to the federal government for years where the state has constructed and incorporated administrative policies absolving itself from any misdeeds of false claims as it kicks the can down the proverbial road to the privatized entity, KVC and KanCare.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General alleges Kansas incorrectly counted some children in seeking bonus payments to offset the cost of children enrolled in Medicaid, a federal program run by states that provides health care to the uninsured. That led to more bonus payments than Kansas should have received.

Kansas did not incorrectly count some children in seeking bonus payments to offset the cost of children enrolled in Medicaid because these 'miscounted' children will eventually end up in the state's foster care system just because the economic policies were intentionally designed to 'target' these populations.

Even if some of these children are missing, there is nothing written in stone that the state has to cease submitting cost reimbursements.

A November report by the Office of Inspector General recommends Kansas refund $17,796,598.

The Office of Inspector General audited bonus payments from 2009 through 2013. The nearly $18 million represents almost half of the bonus payments Kansas received during that time, which totaled $36.6 million.

Some of this federal funding was used to pay its state Financial Participation Rates, which is illegal, but HHS OIG will not do a damn thing about it, and everyone knows this.

The dispute between Kansas and the Office of Inspector General centers on the way the state calculated the number of children enrolled in Medicaid – specifically the Children’s Health Insurance Program – for the purposes of the bonus payments. The report says Kansas overstated its enrollment.

Kansas maintains it followed guidance given by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on how to make the calculations. But the OIG says CMS correctly explained how the calculations should be made.

CMS did properly calculate the overstated enrollment but nothing is going to be done about it because it would interfere with economic development of KVC funding political campaigns and acquistion of land.

Yes, the state revenue generated from these transgressions are used to acquire land in KVC investments and its individual associates.

“Kansas understands the importance of utilizing Federal Medicaid funds appropriately. This was no exception,” Christine Swartz, the state’s deputy Medicaid director, wrote in a July letter to the Office of Inspector General.

Brownback set it up so that its private contractors could generate funding for political campaigns, mostly state campaigns as its campaign finance reporting system is poorly structured to hide to decipher what actually is an issue campaign for a private contractor and a political campaign.

The complaint, below, illuminates how KVC solicits under the guise of child welfare issues where many of its state elected and administrative officials function in the capacities of being on KVC payroll, advisory boards, and lobbyists.

KanCare, which put private companies in charge of managing the state’s Medicaid program, was launched by Gov. Sam Brownback in January 2013. The program moved nearly all state Medicaid enrollees into health plans run by Sunflower and two other managed care organizations, Amerigroup and UnitedHealthcare.

Leary sued in October, shortly after it was reported that the three companies running KanCare collectively lost $76.2 million in 2014 after incurring losses of $110 million in 2013.

The federal report says that after considering Kansas’s comments, the OIG stood by its findings and recommendation.

Now, the question is, "What is OIG going to do about it?"

The OIG’s recommendation that Kansas give the money back remains just that – a recommendation – de Rocha emphasized. She said CMS has not sought the funds’ return.

Kansas has yet to even file an appeal to be ruled upon which is why CMS has not sought the funds' return.

The report comes as Kansas seeks reauthorization of its privatized Medicaid program, known as KanCare. The state must obtain permission from CMS to continue the program.

Kansas was denied reauthorization in January.

Audits of other states have also found bonus payments that should not have been allowed. Another report released this month found that Ohio had been overpaid by $29.5 million.

“In previous audits…we found millions of dollars in unallowable bonus payments,” the Kansas report said, “therefore, we identified (Children’s Health Insurance Program) bonus payments as a high-risk area.”

So far, CHIP reauthorization has yet to go through and Tom Price, under federal investigation, has resigned.

As demonstrated in the KVC complaint, below, there is no indication that Kansas is going to pay back the funding from its false claims of Medicaid because it is currently in its state court suing a whistleblower for putting their dirty deeds on a public platform.

What I really want to know is why, a private child welfare contractor, that submits cost reimbursements to Medicaid, owns intellectual property and is allowed to engage in private fundraising without having to report what it does with the money.

But I know what Kansas does with the money, and now, you do, too, and the state has all intentions of using Medicaid dollars to make sure it keeps its money.

KVC vs Frie 17-cv-06172 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©