(The Center Square) – One of Wisconsin’s Republican congressmen says there is a reason why Vice President JD Vance chose Milwaukee for his speech on public benefit fraud.
“We’re seeing terrible fraud in the state of Wisconsin,“ Congressman Bryan Steil said during a Wednesday interview on News Talk 1130 WISN. “We just recently saw an individual convicted for stealing a million dollars in Medicaid fraud.”
In fact, federal prosecutors say at least five people have recently been convicted in a $15 million scheme involving prenatal care in Milwaukee.
Vance will speak about Medicaid and food stamp fraud in Milwaukee, making the case that the government can save billions of dollars by cracking down on scammers and fake service providers.
Steil said that, however, is unpopular with liberals because it wrecks their view of how public benefit programs are supposed to work.
“Democrats are measuring the programs simply by how much money we spend,” Steil explained. “As so, as conservatives, when we point out that the money they’re spending is not going to the place where they are telling — it’s going to waste, fraud, and abuse — they get really defensive, and really upset.”
Wisconsin is fighting the Trump Administration’s effort to fight fraud. Gov. Tony Evers has refused to allow the federal government to inspect Wisconsin’s food stamp rolls and Medicaid enrollment system.
The governor says he is worried about the personal data, such as social security numbers, that could be included in that data.
Steil said there’s a need to check state-based lists because, many times, that’s an easy way to flag fraud cases.
“One of the concerns we have is, are individuals double-dipping?” Steil added. “We know this occurs on occasion, particularly on the state line with Illinois or Minnesota, where an individual signs up for the program in both states. So, reviewing those rolls holistically, to make sure that individuals are not on the system in two states, is really important.”
