Carolina Journal’s Dan Way pursues the question that needs to be asked in the wake of the State Auditor’s Medicaid audit that showed massive overspending and mismanagement.
State officials will not say whether anyone will be charged in a Medicaid spending scandal uncovered by the state auditor’s office.
“That would be a question best addressed by the auditor’s office,” Julie Henry, Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman, said when asked whether legal action might be expected after the audit revealed more than $1 billion annually in overspending. It also found missing and incomplete contracts, shoddy bookkeeping, and possible violations of state law.
Bill Holmes, a spokesman for Auditor Beth Wood, referred the same question about possible charges to DHHS for an answer. He said the Medicaid program was so chaotic and problems so diffuse it might be challenging to pin the blame on any one person.
Crystal Feldman, press secretary for Gov. Pat McCrory, said “stay tuned” when asked whether charges were expected and whether Medicaid might be shifted from its current fee-for-service design to a managed care model.
A second audit of the Medicaid program is under way by Wood’s office. Neither she nor McCrory would say what its focus is, though Wood did say it is investigative in nature.
