INTERNACIONAL
Medicaid fraud fears grow amid massive red state billing spike in sector that also plagued Minnesota
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
As fraud concerns ramp up across the country, particularly involving Medicaid, North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek told Fox News Digital the problem is very real in his state, especially when it comes to autism therapy, an area that has been highly scrutinized in Minnesota.
Boliek is sounding the alarm on potential waste, fraud and abuse within the state’s Medicaid program, specifically noting in an interview with Fox News Digital a 47,000% explosion in autism therapy billings he has flagged since taking office last year.
«Those are vital services to folks and individuals that need that therapy,» Boliek said. «But when you have, like in North Carolina, a system that went from $1.4 million or so in total billings for autism therapy to more than $660 million a year in billings on autism therapy within a five-year range, that begs an audit from the state auditor, who in North Carolina, we are the top watchdog agency for taxpayer waste, fraud and abuse prevention. So, we’ve dug down into that and are in the middle of that.«
Boliek, who was speaking to Fox News Digital at the annual State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, says his office is «hand in hand» with Vice President JD Vance’s focus on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse to «make sure that the people who need the services and deserve those services get the services» without «wasting money.»
NORTH CAROLINA AUDITOR EXCITED FOR ‘REAL EFFECT’ OF STATE-LEVEL DOGE: ‘KEEPING GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE’
North Carolina state Auditor Dave Boliek gives a report during the Council of State meeting in Raleigh, N.C., on Feb. 4, 2025. (Getty Images)
One of the core problems, Boliek explained, is the system is oftentimes designed in a way that fails to properly safeguard against waste and abuse.
«What we’ve got is we’ve seen examples where there might be three different clinical providers billing during the same tranche of time on an autism therapy client, and that is because of poor rulemaking,» Boliek explained. «Some of it is possibly illegal and probably illegal, and we’re going to point that out, and we’re going to try to put people in cuffs because of it.
«But some of it might be technically legal because of the lax oversight from a Democrat-led Department of Health and Human Services,» Boliek said, referencing the top state health agency in North Carolina.
In a March 10, 2026, hearing of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services presented data that matches Boliek’s narrative of exponential growth in autism therapy.
TRUMP ELECTION INTEGRITY PUSH EXPOSES MASSIVE AMOUNT OF DEAD PEOPLE ON NORTH CAROLINA VOTER ROLLS
Vice President Vance and CMS Administrator Dr. Oz tackle fraud in areas such as Medicaid, hospices and durable medical equipment suppliers. (Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images)
The report confirmed that Medicaid spending on ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy grew by 347% between 2022 and 2025 alone and that total spending is projected to hit $842 million in state fiscal year 2026 and $1.14 billion by state fiscal year 2027.
Medicaid fraud has been a hot-button issue across the United States after a scandal in Minnesota gained widespread attention last fall and spreading to places like California and Ohio, the latter being the subject of a recent Daily Wire exposé examining seven medical buildings in Columbus, Ohio, that house 288 Medicaid companies and bill the government $250 million.
The key issues with Medicaid and the ease with which it can be abused both illegally and legally, according to Boliek, are the «minutiae of rulemaking» that is «built in by government.»
«For example, how individual entities, whether they are a provider of clinical medical services or whether they’re a provider of daycare services or other services that can be paid for through departments of Health and Human Services, how those rules are set up and what the billing rules are,» Boliek explained.
GOP SENATOR LAUNCHES EFFORT TO CLOSE MEDICAID LOOPHOLE ALLOWING FRAUDSTERS TO RAKE IN MILLIONS
«It really is minutiae, but in North Carolina, for example, we still have some services that are delivered on a fee-for-service basis, and they lack transparency and lack accountability with respect to who can bill and how much can be billed for particular services. That’s why we’ve taken a deep dive into some particular fee-for-service areas in North Carolina and are looking at provider data on exactly how those services are billed. That’s where the flaws are.«
During the developing fraud scandal in Minnesota, federal agents discovered that one suspected scammer defrauded the state’s autism treatment program of roughly $14 million and allegedly billed Medicaid for fake therapy sessions, used untrained staff and paid parents $300 to $1,500 a month to keep their kids in the program.
The state’s autism program’s budget jumped from $3 million in 2018 to nearly $400 million in 2023, according to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced he will not seek re-election during a news conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul on Jan. 5, 2026. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)
«The fraud is so obvious, just simply looking at the exponential growth in some of these social services programs, that anybody kind of looking at how fast this was growing should have known that a fraud was a major reason why,» Minnesota state Sen. Michael Kreun, a Republican, told Fox News Digital in December about social services fraud in his state.
In terms of next steps in North Carolina, Boliek says his office is working with lawmakers to strengthen fraud enforcement by increasing financial accountability, expanding investigative and Medicaid audit resources and investing in staff and technology to recover misused funds.
Boliek explained that one important tool to crack down on fraud is artificial intelligence.
«Look, we’ve got to pour jet fuel on artificial intelligence in the area of state auditing because the fraudsters are using AI and if we’re not using AI to combat the fraud, then we’re going to be on our heels and the taxpayer isn’t going to be protected.»
He emphasized that these steps, especially enhancing oversight of programs like Medicaid, are aimed at holding individuals accountable and returning taxpayer dollars for more effective use.
The State Financial Officers Foundation, a group of financial officers that collectively oversees more than $3 trillion in state funds, released a report earlier this year outlining how the organization safeguarded more than $28 billion of waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone.
«Every wasted dollar is a dollar that can’t be spent on a person who actually needs service,» Boliek said.
health care executive, north carolina, minnesota fraud exposed, autism, investigations
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A gunman was «neutralized» Monday following a shooting in Montreal that left one police officer and one other person dead.
Authorities told Fox News that the shooting happened in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of the city.
NYPD RELEASES DRAMATIC BODY CAM FOOTAGE OF OFFICERS TACKLING ALLEGED TEEN GUNMAN IN BROOKLYN CHASE
A shooting in Montreal left one person dead Monday, as well as a police officer, authorities said. (Getty Images)
At a news conference, Montreal police (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) Chief Fady Dagher said officers were called to the Hilton Garden Inn where someone opened fire on them, he said.
A male officer and a civilian died, he said. A female officer was injured and taken to a hospital in critical condition but was upgraded to stable condition.
«It’s a tragedy. It’s a nightmare,» Dagher said.
The weapon used in the shooting was recovered, the chief said.
In an alert, issued around 12:30 p.m., authorities advised people in the Côte-des-Neiges area to shelter indoors because of an «armed and dangerous suspect» in the neighborhood.
«If you are in the affected area, shelter indoors, lock the doors, stay away from windows and follow instructions of local authorities,» the alert stated.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada reacted to the shooting online.
TRANSGENDER STUDENT IDENTIFIED AS ALLEGED SUSPECT IN CANADA SCHOOL MASS SHOOTING THAT LEFT AT LEAST 9 DEAD
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada leaves a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Reuters)
«My deepest condolences to the family, loved ones, and colleagues of the police officer who died in the line of duty in Côte-des-Neiges,» she wrote. «My thoughts are also with all those affected by this tragedy. We are closely following the evolution of the situation and ask the public to respect the instructions of the SPVM.»
In a post on X, Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette said she was «deeply shaken» by the shooting and that the provincial government would offer its full co-operation to the relevant authorities.
«Such acts have no place here. We are monitoring the situation closely,» Fréchette said.
Details about the alleged gunman or what led to the shooting have not been disclosed.
It has been 24 years since the last (SPVM) officer was killed in the line of duty, Dagher said.
Brandon Elkaim, who lives near where the shooting happened, said he was shocked to learn of the violence in the area.
A shooting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada left a police officer dead, as well as one other person, authorities said Monday. (Photographer: Nasuna Stuart-Ulin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«It was about 10 or 12, what we now know, were shots in a row,» he told CTV News. «About 10 minutes went by of quiet but in that time, we saw the park completely empty out, parents and kids running in a panic.»
As of Monday afternoon, there was no immediate threat to the public, authorities said.
crime, canada, police and law enforcement
INTERNACIONAL
«El mundo está seguro»: cómo Andy Burnham heredó el poder en el Reino Unido en solo veinte minutos
El ascenso de Andy Burnham
Streeting renunció a desafiarlo
Diplomacia interpares
¿Un liderazgo de izquierda?
Starmer, muy emocionado
Reacciones
La reacción de Nigel Farage
La herencia
INTERNACIONAL
Obama-era inspection flaws in Iran could persist as experts warn of nuclear blind spots
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Iran has agreed to let nuclear inspectors back into the country, Vice President JD Vance said Monday, as nuclear experts warned President Donald Trump’s new Tehran framework will only work if inspectors get the kind of unfettered access they say was missing from the Obama-era Iran deal.
The news, which Vance described as «a major milestone,» comes as Trump’s new Iran framework drew warnings from nuclear experts who told Fox News Digital the deal could leave Tehran too much control over its uranium stockpile unless inspectors first locate, secure and verify the material. The IAEA has not been able to resume full in-field verification of Iran’s declared nuclear program since last year’s strikes, apart from a June inspection at a single Iranian nuclear power plant.
The verification gap concern centers on language in the reported U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) saying the two sides will resolve the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile through a still-to-be-negotiated process. The MOU identifies onsite «downblending,» which means diluting enriched uranium so it is less usable for a nuclear weapon, under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision as the minimum acceptable method for dealing with the material. The MOU does not explicitly say Iran will retain a civilian nuclear program, but it says the two sides will discuss enrichment and other matters related to Iran’s «nuclear needs» in a final deal.
«Unfettered verification is everything,» Chuck DeVore, Chief National Initiatives Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told Fox News Digital. «There can be no denial for teams to inspect on the ground. Remote, technological means can achieve a lot, but nothing beats in-person inspections.»
TRUMP NUCLEAR TALKS FACE DEFINING QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENS TO IRAN’S URANIUM STOCKPILE?
Vice President JD Vance said the Iranians have agreed to let nuclear inspectors back into their country. U.S. nuclear experts are warning that Trump’s reported Iran framework could leave Tehran too much control over its uranium stockpile unless inspectors first fully account for and secure the material. (Photo by Spencer Platt / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
IAEA supervision would only be meaningful if inspectors first regain enough access to fully account for Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and ensure Tehran does not retain unchecked control of the material, experts warned Fox News Digital. Meanwhile, a recent IAEA report released this month underscored the agency’s limited visibility into Iran’s declared nuclear program after last year’s military strikes, saying that aside from a single inspection at an Iranian nuclear power plant, the agency «has not received information from Iran» about the status of its other declared nuclear facilities or associated nuclear material. «Nor has the Agency had access» to those sites for in-field verification, the report noted.
A senior administration official told Fox News Digital on background that the MOU required Iran’s regime to reaffirm that it will not procure or develop nuclear weapons, calling that a critical first step under Iran’s new Supreme Leader.
The official said the U.S. has reached understandings with Iran when it comes to its uranium stockpile, and the new deal is the first step of turning these understandings into real results, which include progress on enriched uranium stockpiles, dismantlement of nuclear sites, an enrichment ban and inspection access. The official added that the U.S. has already had productive discussions with Iran on those issues and, now that the MOU is formally in place, negotiators will work to make quick progress.
US-IRAN TALKS POSTPONED IN SWITZERLAND AMID ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS; HORMUZ REMAINS A KEY ISSUE
The official also referred Fox News Digital to comments Vice President JD Vance made Thursday, when he said the deal’s benefits depend on Iran following through on its promises.
«They have promised not to enrich. They have promised that they would allow inspectors in to destroy that highly enriched stockpile. And then, of course, it’s not usable anymore. You take it somewhere else,» Vance said. «They promised a number of things, and that’s why the deal contemplates a number of benefits if they do those things. But it doesn’t do anything if they don’t actually meet those promises.»
Vice President JD Vance listens as a reporter asks a question in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Thursday, June 18, 2026, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
«The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearize, easing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,» Vance added Monday after negotiations in Switzerland resumed. «And that’s exactly what we wanted to do. That’s exactly what we asked to happen.»
The Vice President said that the technical negotiations will continue over the next weeks and days, even in his absence. He said a framework for «proper political oversight» of these negotiations has been established as well. Vance simultaneously highlighted that «a lot of great progress on other nuclear talks» has already been made in the early days.
Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Nonproliferation Program, told Fox News Digital that any credible agreement must begin with recovering and safeguarding Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, and not allowing Tehran to keep control of the material while it is diluted inside the country.
«Without verifiably dismantling and destroying all of Iran’s fundamental nuclear capabilities — nuclear material, facilities, centrifuges, manufacturing capabilities, equipment, documentation, and weaponization capacities, and ensuring scientists are redirected to civilian work — Iran’s pledge on paper is meaningless,» she told Fox News Digital, noting that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile could, if recovered and further enriched, provide enough weapons-grade material for roughly 22 nuclear weapons.
HOW DOES TRUMP SOLVE KEY ‘NUCLEAR DUST’ HANG-UP IN NEGOTIATIONS TO END IRAN WAR?
DeVore was more cautious about assigning a single number to Iran’s potential weapons capacity, saying the estimate depends heavily on the sophistication of the weapon design. He said the same stockpile could translate into fewer basic weapons or be stretched further by a more advanced nuclear program.
He said onsite downblending, if properly verified, would be aimed at making Iran’s roughly 1,000 pounds of 60% enriched uranium unavailable for further enrichment. DeVore cautioned that the material would still need additional processing to be turned into weapons-grade uranium and said he does not believe Tehran can currently do that because key facilities were destroyed in last year’s strikes.
A satellite image shows damage at the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran after U.S. strikes on June 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies)
Asked what would be needed to make any Iran deal enforceable, DeVore told Fox News Digital the U.S. must avoid repeating what he described as a key weakness of the Obama-era nuclear deal: allowing Tehran to restrict access or keep certain sites off limits. He said the «ultimate question» is onsite verification, warning that Washington cannot allow itself to be pushed into «an agreement for agreement’s sake.»
TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN RIPS INTO TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL, SAYS $300B MAKES OBAMA DEAL LOOK LIKE ‘A PITTANCE’
DeVore also said the Obama-era JCPOA gave inspectors too much notice and too little freedom to inspect suspicious locations as well, arguing that any new deal must avoid a system where Iran can delay, limit or steer inspections before the IAEA gets on the ground.
The flag of Iran waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria. (Florian Schroetter/AP Photo)
DeVore told Fox News Digital that his concern is informed by his experience as a young special assistant for foreign affairs in the Reagan administration, when he worked on verification issues surrounding Cold War-era nuclear agreements with the Soviet Union, including the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty and the Threshold Test Ban Treaty.
In those negotiations, DeVore said, the danger was that the minimum level of verification sought by defense and intelligence officials could become the starting point for diplomats, meaning the final deal could end up below what experts believed was necessary.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«Once you say, ‘This is the minimum we need,’ then that becomes the starting point, so anything agreed to is less than that,» DeVore said. «That’s what I fear.»
Fox News Digital reached out to the IAEA asking whether the agency can currently account for Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and whether it has any comment on the verification questions raised by the reported framework but did not hear back. The agency did not release any statement after Vance said they would be allowed access to Iran in time for publication.
war with iran, nuclear proliferation, foreign policy, middle east foreign policy, treaties, sanctions
Suspect ‘neutralized’ after Montreal shooting leaves at least 2 dead including officer
Inglaterra-Ghana, EN VIVO, por el Mundial 2026: hora, TV, formaciones y todo lo que hay que saber
Mercado Pago quedó bajo la lupa por los «torneos entre amigos»
«El mundo está seguro»: cómo Andy Burnham heredó el poder en el Reino Unido en solo veinte minutos
Daniel López Rosetti, médico cardiólogo: “No hay que ser mejor que otros, sino mejor que ayer; la competencia es con uno mismo”
Antonela Roccuzzo rompió el silencio y expresó su bronca por el escándalo que vivió Messi con Nico Occhiato: «Acá el problema es…»
LA DOBLE VARA ZURDA: Militantes K prefieren el pasado dictatorial y los excesos de Maradona antes que el éxito limpio de Messi
Preocupación en el oficialismo por el impacto digital del caso Adorni y la insuficiencia del “efecto Mundial”
Difundieron videos en los que Jésica Cirio aparece junto a miles de dólares
Qué dijo Jesica Cirio tras la difusión de los videos donde se ven fajos con millones de dólares en la casa de Martín Insaurralde
POLITICA2 días agoLA DOBLE VARA ZURDA: Militantes K prefieren el pasado dictatorial y los excesos de Maradona antes que el éxito limpio de Messi
- POLITICA2 días ago
Preocupación en el oficialismo por el impacto digital del caso Adorni y la insuficiencia del “efecto Mundial”
- POLITICA3 días ago
Difundieron videos en los que Jésica Cirio aparece junto a miles de dólares
