![Senator Headshot](/sites/default/files/styles/4_3_small/public/02-10-15_official_hs_omara-hs-040_0.jpg?itok=gJ9N77KJ)
A MILLION REASONS WHY
Thomas F. O'Mara
June 5, 2015
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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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Go to Newsroom![In late September, Senator O'Mara, Assemblyman Phil Palmesano and a few of their legislative colleagues visited Mahany Farms in Arkport (Steuben County), where owner Gary Mahany (center, yellow shirt) and his employees grow Irish potatoes. “Cornell University's efforts over the past 70 years to contain the Golden Nematode, and to conduct the research and development that will always be the front line of protection for our growers and growers throughout America, have been remarkable," said Senator O'Mara, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.](/sites/default/files/styles/760x377/public/mahanyfarms_newweb.jpg?itok=RYhzeHvQ)
![Currently quarantined to eight counties in New York State, this potato pest first discovered in New York State in 1941 is so destructive and impossible to eradicate that, not controlled, it can lead to total crop failure.](/sites/default/files/styles/760x377/public/goldennematode_newweb.jpg?itok=iKvZsFmU)
![In Senator O'Mara's district office in Elmira on Wednesday, the senator and Robin DeLong of GST BOCES present Amna Gafsi of Horsheads with a Legislative Proclamation commending her achievement.](/sites/default/files/styles/760x377/public/nyacce_studentoftheyear_newweb_copy.jpg?itok=QENSkJ0P)