Attack on Medicaid recipients serves no useful purpose, demonizes those most in need

JACKSON, Miss -- Earlier this week State Auditor Shad White singled out “Medicaid fraud” in his audit of federal money received in Mississippi, claiming that his audit found that up to five percent of Medicaid recipients in the state might be ineligible. This misleading and sensationalist report missed some basic facts about Medicaid. 
 
Medicaid eligibility is determined on a yearly basis, although people are required to report changes in income. That means some people who were eligible the year before became ineligible the next year based on their income. But since eligibility is determined on a yearly basis, it can take time for people to lose their eligibility. This is not “fraud,” it’s the way the system works.  
 
The following is a statement from Brandon Jones, policy director for the SPLC Action Fund.
 
“The audit acknowledges several times that it cannot determine whether the individuals it singles out were, in fact, ineligible. Nevertheless, knowing that the audit cannot make that determination, Shad White still treats them as ineligible and calculates a worst-case scenario analysis that is meant to get the public hyperventilating about a problem that doesn’t exist while using a worn-out tradition of dog whistling on welfare fraud.” 
 
“It is frankly exhausting that public officials in one of the poorest states in the country repeatedly feel the need to attack people on public assistance. The income of people fluctuates, and it’s not surprising that in the middle of a pandemic some people who were doing well before have now hit hard times. Medicaid and other public assistance programs have been literal lifesavers for many people in Mississippi. We need to strengthen and expand Medicaid, not attack it to score cheap political points.”