A Colorado Medicaid provider allegedly billed the state $165,000 for rides taken after a patient had died. The case is one of several alleged schemes described in a House Energy and Commerce Committee report on taxpayer-funded health programs. The report says fraud can expose patients to identity theft, long waiting lists, substandard care and, in some cases, no services at all.
Alleged billing schemes
Wesam Yassin, one of two non-emergency medical transportation providers charged by state and local prosecutors in Colorado in February 2026, allegedly submitted $3.3 million in questionable bills to Colorado Medicaid through a company called Sama Limo. According to the report, Yassin allegedly billed $283,000 for 64 rides for one person—more than $4,000 per ride. About $165,000 of the charges covered rides after the patient had 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 supplied account doesn’t present the allegations as findings of guilt.
Ashley Marie Stevens allegedly tried 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 took place.
“Medicare and Medicaid fraud occurs nationwide and costs American taxpayers billions of dollars a year,” the committee report said. It described fraud as prevalent across health care and especially egregious in taxpayer-funded programs serving vulnerable populations, including the elderly, disabled people, children and pregnant women. Committee members said fraudulent claims can drain money from those programs and harm the patients they serve.
Hospice and equipment concerns
In California, investigators observed nearly 500 hospices within a three-mile radius in Los Angeles County, including 137 on Van Nuys Boulevard and 89 companies registered to one Van Nuys address, the report said. Citing a March 2022 California State Auditor’s report and HHS hospice ownership data, it said Los Angeles County accounted for more than 31% of U.S. hospice agencies in 2022.
The California Department of Public Health froze new hospice licenses in January 2022. Yet, the committee 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 growth in home health and hospice providers and possible fraud tied to foreign criminal groups.
The report also detailed allegations from 2024 involving “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 allegedly bought 30 small medical supply companies that already received federal funds, then billed Medicare nearly $11 billion for catheters. More than 99% of those funds never went out the door, the report said. Similar medical-equipment schemes involved alleged bad actors in Estonia, Pakistan, Georgia and Hong Kong.
Patients and public funds
In Minnesota, Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf pleaded guilty to trying to defraud $6 million from a state Medicaid-funded autism therapy program. The report said he and co-defendants allegedly hired unqualified behavior counselors and got children enrolled by bribing their parents. At his plea hearing, Yussuf admitted he didn’t actually know anyone with autism.
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.” The supplied account says the Washington Post health brief offered only a headline and short teaser, with no details about proposed price-transparency rules. It contains no account of a sovereignty transfer or demographic effects from those rules.