Auditor Allison Ball testifies in D.C. hearing on fraud in state-run federal programs

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKYT) - Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball testified Tuesday during a U.S. House oversight hearing focused on fraud prevention in federally funded programs administered by states, as lawmakers examined ways to curb waste, fraud and abuse involving taxpayer dollars.

The hearing, led by U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) as part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s investigation, was titled “Fraud Prevention: Understanding Fraud in Federally Funded Programs Run by the States.” State Financial Officers Foundation CEO and Kentucky native O.J. Oleka also testified.

During questioning, Comer pointed to what he called longstanding concerns about widespread fraud in Kentucky’s Medicaid program, pressing Ball on efforts to address it.

Ball testified that Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration has been uncooperative and that her office has had difficulty obtaining information needed for oversight.

Governor Beshear responded during his Team Kentucky update Tuesday afternoon saying “her claims are wildly inflated. If you’ve ever read an actual audit from the private sector you can tell the differences.”

He goes on to say “you look at this ineligible non-citizen. There are people who are non-citizens that we have to cover under federal law. That’s the people that she’s talking about. Again, it’s not explaining to you the things that Medicaid has to do and then trying to make some big thing out of it. That $800 Million is a wild extrapolation from a small subset and then suggests every single duplicate enrollee is not in Kentucky. It comes from databases that the federal government would not give state’s access to. We finally have it and we’re finding very low numbers in that. It is nothing remotely close to that.”

Comer praised Ball and Oleka for their work to safeguard taxpayer funds and said state leaders must take the theft of taxpayer dollars seriously. He urged the Kentucky General Assembly to act on audit findings to strengthen oversight, reform Medicaid and better protect taxpayers.