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A MILLION REASONS WHY
Thomas F. O'Mara
June 5, 2015
![](/sites/default/files/styles/760x377/public/medicaid-for-gastric-sleeve_1_0.jpg?itok=gSyRWkSW)
Mayors, county executives and other local officials throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and statewide, continue to point to Medicaid as their heaviest financial burden.
That's why recent reports are so troubling.
These reports include two audits by the state comptroller’s office continuing to show that despite years of legislative efforts to rid New York’s Medicaid system of abuse, fraud and waste – efforts that included the creation of the Office of Medicaid Inspector General nearly a decade ago – not enough is being done.
In one prominent case earlier this year, nine New York doctors were indicted in Brooklyn as part of a $7-million Medicaid fraud scheme which took advantage of thousands of homeless people by luring them into offices for unnecessary medical testing in exchange for free sneakers.
Recent legislation approved by the Senate would help root out Medicaid abuse, fraud and waste.
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![“It’s outrageous that it takes a comptroller’s audit to uncover, after the fact, what I and many upstate, rural public transit leaders have been warning about for several years. In the meantime, millions of taxpayer dollars have been lost to abuse, fraud, and waste,” said Senator O’Mara, Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee.](/sites/default/files/styles/760x377/public/article/main-image/schuylerbusbannerpark4_1.jpg?itok=NDKaqbIN)