State Met With Lakewood Jewish Group Before Offering Medicaid Fraud Amnesty
Image by Google Maps
By Josh Nathan-Kazis September 26, 2017
New Jersey officials met exclusively with representatives of the Lakewood Vaad, an Orthodox Jewish group, while planning a controversial Medicaid fraud amnesty program, the Asbury Park Press reported last week.
The amnesty program, offered only in Ocean County, New Jersey, allowed Medicaid fraudsters to repay illicit benefits without facing prosecution. The program came after officials arrested more than a dozen members of Lakewood’s Orthodox community on Medicaid fraud charges this spring. Critics of the amnesty program charged that it favored the Orthodox community.
The Asbury Park Press’s report found that New Jersey officials met only with Vaad representatives while planning the amnesty offer. Leaders of local Hispanic and African-American groups said they were taken by surprise when the program was announced.
“Nothing to us at all. No one reached out,” Alejandra Morales, president of a local immigrant right’s group, told the Asbury Park Press.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
