HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES FRAUD

On 2026-06-09, Representative Emilia Strong Sykes (D-OH-13) delivered a floor speech titled "HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES FRAUD" in the House.

HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES FRAUD

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 97 (Tuesday, June 9, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 9, 2026)] [House] [Page H4001] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES FRAUD (Mrs. Sykes of Ohio was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mrs. SYKES. Mr. Speaker, the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses held a hearing last week focused on allegations of home- and community- based services in my State of Ohio. I have some thoughts. First, fraud is wrong. People misusing the system undermines the very purpose of safety net programs. If taxpayer dollars are misused, there must be accountability. Vulnerabilities must be fixed, and oversight should be strengthened. I support that effort. However, what I do not support is using allegations of fraud to mischaracterize an entire program, promote racist and xenophobic ideologies, limit the care of our most vulnerable citizens, or by presenting only part of the story. Unfortunately, that is what happened last week. Before the hearing, my Ohio Democratic colleagues and I were told we would have an opportunity to engage in the hearing as Ohioans and folks who are closest to the issue, but at the last minute, we were shut out. That decision cut off a fuller conversation about both rooting out fraud and protecting services relied on by more than 122,000 Ohioans. Home- and community-based services provide in-home support, including medication assistance, therapy, meals, and personal care that allows older adults and individuals with disabilities to remain at home rather than in institutions. This flexibility allows families to remain close with the added benefit of lower costs and better health outcomes. It is one of the many reasons these programs have long enjoyed bipartisan support. Since the 1980s, Ohio has participated in these home- and community- based waiver programs, including the past 15 years under a State government fully led by Republicans. During that time, these programs have been designed, funded, administered, and repeatedly approved by State and Federal officials. As a former State legislator, I served on the finance committee, and I was the ranking member for the health and human services subcommittee that oversaw the funding and activities toward the home-based and community-based services and Medicaid as an entire agency. The move toward home-based services were led and championed by Governor Kasich, the Republican from Ohio. A feature of the program was to move toward agency-based services and away from independent providers to, you guessed it, combat fraud and abuse. To be clear, Ohio Auditor Keith Faber, who was a witness at last week's hearing, does not currently set Medicaid policy, at least not today. However, as a former State legislator and a former State senate president, he supported expanding HCBS and removing barriers to improve access and reduce costs. While not only just that, he negotiated multiple budgets under his leadership, increasing funding for these programs. However, now, as the State auditor, he enjoys wide discretion to audit programs and State agencies. Why were those oversight concerns not acted on more aggressively? What has been going on in the auditor's office for the past 7\1/2\ years if there is so much fraud, waste, and abuse? Further, why weren't there any notable flags in the HCBS program in the last State audit of the Department of Medicaid? In 2013, Ohio created the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee to strengthen accountability when the State expanded Medicaid under Republican Governor John Kasich, but that committee was dissolved last year by a Republican supermajority in the legislature and signed by the Republican Governor while it was actively reviewing Medicaid administration, including contracts with major claim processors. If vulnerabilities have existed for years, Ohioans deserve answers as to why stronger safeguards were not implemented and enforced for the last 15 years of Republican-led State of Ohio. Additionally, why was the oversight committee abolished just in December of 2025? During the hearing, we also heard testimony from an investigative reporter of The Daily Wire, whose testimony repeatedly focused on immigrants and ethnic communities in ways that blurred the line between identifying wrongdoing and casting suspicions and, quite frankly, racist suspicions on entire groups of people. Fraud should be investigated wherever it exists, but oversight must be driven by evidence, not rhetoric that casts doubt and blame on entire communities. The hearing also featured testimony from State Representative Mike Dovilla, who described oversight failures and data fragmentation that he argues persisted for years within Ohio's Medicaid system. Again, this is Representative Dovilla's second tour in the statehouse. Where has he been? If those conditions are as longstanding and widespread as described, then Ohioans deserve to know why stronger safeguards were not implemented when State leaders, Republican State leaders, including those who governed and shaped policy decisions over the past 15 years, had and still have the authority to act. The vast majority of caregivers and providers are not engaged in fraud. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired. Mrs. SYKES. They are workers and family members providing essential care every day to our most vulnerable. Fraud must be investigated and prosecuted. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired. The gentlewoman is no longer recognized. ____________________