Massachusetts auditor’s report shows fraudulent claims for public assistance total nearly $12 million - MassLive.com

A report issued Wednesday by the office of Massachusetts Auditor Suzanne M. Bump says investigators in her office found that various “bad actors” defrauded state public-assistance programs by nearly $12 million last year.

The report, prepared by the auditor’s Bureau of Special Investigation, completed 5,787 investigations in the area of the departments of Transitional Assistance, Early Education and Care, and MassHealth, and found 1,077 instances where people defrauded the state of a total of $11.96 million. The average amount wrongly paid out was $11,106.

The bulk of it, 46 percent or $5.4 million, was from programs under the Department of Transitional Assistance.

Programs like MassHealth, Transitional Assistance and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provide families with “critical lifelines that allow them to put food on the table and access needed medical care,” Bump said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, bad actors seek to defraud these programs and the taxpayers of the Commonwealth by securing benefits for which they do not qualify.”

Many of these cases involved people not reporting income they earned from employment while also receiving assistance. Other areas of fraud included claims for personal care attendants and unreported non-custodial parents in the home.

The job of the Bureau of Special Investigations to root out fraud helps to preserve public trust in such programs, she said. The bureau publishes its findings in an annual report.

The $11.96 million in total fraud may sound staggering, but it is actually lower than the previous two years. The Bureau of Special Investigations identified $14.4 million in fraud in fiscal 2018 and $16.9 million fiscal 2017.

A year ago, 61 percent, or $10.3 million, involved fraud in the are of MassHealth.

By county, Suffolk County had the highest number of allegations investigated in 2019, followed by Hampden and Bristol Counties.

Suffolk had 358 total allegations, followed by Hampden at 310, and Bristol at 254.

Dukes, Franklin and Hampshire counties, which are among the least populated counties in the state, had the fewest number of allegations being investigated with 3, 13, and 27, respectively.

Among notable cases found in 2019 by investigators:

• A Tewksbury woman was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay $12,360 after being found guilty to claiming to be her aunt’s personal care attendant after the aunt was hospitalized and died.
• A Boston woman was found to have hidden her marital status and her spouse’s income to receive $22,000 in Early Education and Care benefits over three years. She was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution.
• A Medford woman was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay $108,288 in restitution to the Department of Transitional Assistance after she was found guilty of failing to disclose her income she earned as a personal care attendant.
• A Norwell dentist was sentenced to three years probation, and ordered to repay MassHealth $173,000 and pay an $84,000 fine for filing false medical claim.

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Massachusetts auditor’s report shows fraudulent claims for public assistance total nearly $12 million - MassLive.com
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