A Colorado Medicaid transportation provider allegedly billed the state $165,000 for rides taken by a patient who had already died. That detail appears in a House Energy and Commerce Committee report describing how people who know the system rarely checks can drain taxpayer-funded health programs.
The committee’s findings came with a blunt assessment. “Medicare and Medicaid fraud occurs nationwide and costs American taxpayers billions of dollars a year,” the report 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.”
The Colorado Cases
In February 2026, eight months ago, state and local prosecutors in Colorado charged two non-emergency medical transportation providers. One was Wesam Yassin, who allegedly submitted $3.3 million in questionable bills to Colorado Medicaid through a company called Sama Limo. The report says he billed $283,000 for 64 rides for one person. That works out to more than $4,000 per ride. About $165,000 covered trips taken after the patient had died.
A federal release announcing the charges spelled out how the money allegedly went. “Proceeds from this scheme were allegedly used for personal gain, including the purchase of a home, furnishings, luxury vehicles, jewelry, and cosmetic surgery.”
The other Colorado defendant, Ashley Marie Stevens, allegedly tried to obtain more than $1 million in taxpayer money. She billed the state about $400,000 for non-medical rides for herself and her family, as well as “ghost rides” that never took place.
The Hospice Question in Los Angeles
The report also examined California’s hospice sector, where the numbers look unusual on their face. Investigators found nearly 500 hospices operating within a three-mile radius in Los Angeles County. Of those, 137 sat on Van Nuys Boulevard, while 89 companies registered to a single Van Nuys address.
The committee drew on a March 2022 California State Auditor’s report and HHS hospice ownership data. It said Los Angeles County had more than 31% of the hospice agencies in the United States in 2022. Earlier in 2026, House lawmakers raised concerns with the Department of Health and Human Services about rising numbers of home health and hospice providers and possible health care fraud tied to foreign criminal groups.
California tried to slow the growth. The California Department of Public Health froze new hospice licenses in January 2022, now four years ago. But the freeze didn’t hold. According to the report, 15 new hospices in one Los Angeles County building received Medicare certification in 2023.
Organized Crime and Medical Supplies
The report described 2024 allegations of “years-long, large-scale” schemes targeting 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 that already received federal funds. They then billed Medicare nearly $11 billion for urinary catheters, the report said. More than 99% of those funds never went out the door. Similar medical-equipment fraud schemes allegedly involved bad actors in Estonia, Pakistan, Georgia and Hong Kong.
Minnesota’s Autism Program
In Minnesota, Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf pleaded guilty to trying to defraud a state Medicaid-funded autism therapy program of $6 million. He and his co-defendants allegedly hired unqualified behavior counselors and enrolled children by bribing their parents. At his plea hearing, Yussuf admitted he didn’t actually know anyone with autism.
The report says patients pay a real price when claims are fraudulent: identity theft, long waiting lists, substandard health care and, in some cases, no services.
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:
These cases point to a basic flaw in open-ended government payment systems: when agencies pay claims first and scrutinize them later, the incentives favor fraudsters over taxpayers. California’s license freeze didn’t stop 15 new hospices from earning Medicare certification, suggesting safeguards on paper aren’t safeguards in practice. Billions in losses don’t just strain federal and state budgets. They crowd out care for the elderly, disabled, children and pregnant women these programs were built to serve. Any serious debate over expanding Medicare and Medicaid has to begin with whether existing programs can police themselves—and what this report documents suggests they often can’t.