A Colorado Medicaid transportation provider billed the state $165,000 for rides taken by a patient who had already died. That allegation appears in a House Energy and Commerce Committee report on vulnerabilities in taxpayer-funded health programs. It shows what can happen when the people guarding public dollars can’t see what providers bill.
Wesam Yassin is one of two non-emergency medical transportation providers charged by state and local prosecutors in Colorado in February 2026, eight months ago. He’s accused of submitting $3.3 million in questionable bills to Colorado Medicaid through a company called Sama Limo. According to the report, he allegedly billed $283,000 for 64 rides for one person—more than $4,000 per ride. About $165,000 of those charges came after the patient died. A federal release announcing the charges said, “Proceeds from this scheme were allegedly used for personal gain, including the purchase of a home, furnishings, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and cosmetic surgery.”
The second Colorado defendant, Ashley Marie Stevens, is accused of trying to obtain more than $1 million in taxpayer money. She allegedly billed the state about $400,000 for non-medical rides for herself and her family, along with “ghost rides” that never happened.
Who Pays the Price
The committee report didn’t frame this as a ledger problem alone. “Medicare and Medicaid fraud occurs nationwide and costs American taxpayers billions of dollars a year,” it said. “Fraud is prevalent in all sectors of health care and is especially egregious in taxpayer-funded health care programs that are intended to serve vulnerable populations, including the elderly, disabled, children, and pregnant women.”
Patients bear real costs. The report cited identity theft, long waiting lists, substandard health care and, in some cases, a lack of services because of fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims.
In Minnesota, Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf pleaded guilty to trying to defraud $6 million from a state Medicaid-funded autism therapy program. Prosecutors accused him and his co-defendants of hiring unqualified behavior counselors and getting children enrolled by bribing their parents. At his plea hearing, Yussuf admitted he didn’t actually know anyone with autism.
Gaps in Oversight
The report also pointed to California, where investigators observed nearly 500 hospices operating within a three-mile radius in Los Angeles County. That included 137 on Van Nuys Boulevard and 89 companies registered to one Van Nuys address. Citing a March 2022 California State Auditor’s report and HHS hospice ownership data, it said Los Angeles County held more than 31% of the hospice agencies in the United States in 2022.
California moved to cap the growth. The California Department of Public Health froze new hospice licenses in January 2022. Even so, the report said, 15 new hospices in a single Los Angeles County building received Medicare certification in 2023. Earlier in 2026, House lawmakers raised concerns with the Department of Health and Human Services about an increase in home health and hospice providers and possible health care fraud tied to foreign criminal groups.
The scale of alleged medical-equipment schemes is staggering. The report described allegations from 2024 of “years-long, large-scale” schemes that targeted as much as $3 billion in U.S. taxpayer money through fake urinary-catheter bills. Members of Russian organized crime groups bought 30 small medical supply companies already receiving federal funds, then billed Medicare nearly $11 billion for urinary catheters, the report said. More than 99% of those funds never went out the door. Similar schemes involved alleged bad actors in Estonia, Pakistan, Georgia and Hong Kong.
Official Response
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie told Fox News Digital, “combating fraud is a coast-to-coast battle.” He added, “Every instance of fraud we uncover represents money stolen from taxpayers and care taken away from the patients who depend on it most.”
Why This Matters:
Medicaid and Medicare exist to guarantee care for people who can’t easily secure it on their own: older Americans, people with disabilities, children and pregnant women. When bad actors drain those programs, the harm falls on people least able to absorb it, through longer waits and thinner services, as the committee’s own report acknowledges. The cases also show how much depends on functioning public oversight. A licensing freeze in California didn’t stop new hospices from receiving certification, and shell-style companies reportedly slipped into federal payment streams. Strong enforcement, auditing and transparency aren’t obstacles to these programs. They keep money flowing to patients rather than luxury vehicles and jewelry. Lawmakers who want to defend public health coverage have a clear interest in making sure the safeguards actually work.