Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed the issue of fraud committed by large insurance firms in Medicare during a private meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Ocasio-Cortez accused insurance companies operating within the Medicare Advantage program of upcoding medical diagnoses to obtain additional funds, leading to patients losing their health insurance and facing increased prescription drug costs.
The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Medicare billing at UnitedHealth Group, following allegations of stealing money from Medicare, but no charges have been filed yet.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) refused to explain what happened during her private meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Instead, the congresswoman decided to address the problem of fraud committed by large insurance firms in Medicare.
In response to the reporter’s question about what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez discussed with Kennedy following a budget hearing at HHS on April 21, the representative pointed out the current healthcare crisis in America.
“We’re getting screwed. People are getting screwed. The DOJ has a criminal case open on United Healthcare for stealing money from Medicare. And we’re in a time where all of our healthcare is getting defunded. People are getting denied their health insurance. People are getting denied surgeries, medicines, prescriptions are super expensive.”
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Insurance companies that operate within the Medicare Advantage program, the private alternative to the standard Medicare program, are upcoding medical diagnoses in order to obtain additional funds. At the same time, patients lose their health insurance while the cost of prescription drugs increases dramatically.
“This administration is responsible for it and rewarding them for it. And we have to bring it to a stop,” she stated. “These companies that are running Medicare Advantage are stealing from people, and we need to be honest about it. It’s got to come to an end.”
The comments followed the previous day’s questioning at a congressional budget hearing about a plan to allocate an additional $13 billion in payment cuts to private Medicare Advantage plans amid a federal fraud investigation in the industry.
The congresswoman accused the current administration of sponsoring such practices.
Reactions in the post were controversial. Some critics openly criticized Ocasio-Cortez. For example, one commented: “Tell the truth, all of you Democrats have been stealing taxpayers’ money for years!”
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Another commenter was concerned about how the problem is being presented. “She knows there is much fraud going on, but calls the attempts to fix the situation the main problem,” one user wrote and suggested giving Americans money to cover healthcare expenses. “It is all about competing on price.”
Moreover, one person was certain that this was not the first administration that facilitated fraud. “Fraud started way before this administration,” the user claimed, adding that denying unnecessary services that do not increase a patient’s lifespan is unreasonable.
The Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into Medicare billing at UnitedHealth Group, but no charges have been made so far. The company declined to comment.
Comments include criticism of RFK Jr.'s stance on Medicaid family caregiving programs, with many defending the necessity and compassion of paying relatives for care while acknowledging some fraud exists. Other comments point to government waste and call for reform rather than elimination of these programs.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized Medicaid home care during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on April 16. (Heather Diehl / Getty Images)
(Heather Diehl)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparked outrage among disability rights advocates with recent comments alleging widespread fraud in Medicaid programs that pay people to care for elderly or disabled family members — a system millions of Americans rely on to survive.
During testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee last week, Kennedy criticized Medicaid-funded programs that pay relatives to serve as caregivers, alleging they compensate people for tasks they “used to do as family members for free.” That includes paying them “for balancing the checkbook, for picking up the groceries, for driving somebody to a doctor’s appointment,” he said.
“And this is rife with fraud,” Kennedy said, because the federal government has no way “to determine if they actually performed that duty or not.”
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Video of the remarks quickly spread across social media, drawing a wave of angry responses from caregivers and disability rights advocates who said Kennedy trivialized the reality of caring for medically complex loved ones while conflating legitimate caregiving with illegal activity.
“That’s insulting,” said Kim Musheno, senior director of Medicaid policy at The Arc of the United States, a national disability rights organization. “It’s insulting to the families, and it’s insulting to the work that direct support professionals do for people.”
That work, advocates say, is far more complex than shuttling loved ones to doctor appointments.
For many families, it involves constant, hands-on care for relatives who are unable to live independently — from managing medications and medical equipment to providing continuous supervision for those with significant physical or behavioral needs. The work can be physically and emotionally demanding, advocates say.
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Sue Root, a nurse and single mother of three in Colorado who is paid through Medicaid to care for her 25-year-old daughter, said Kennedy’s words bore little resemblance to her daily life. Her daughter, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury as a child, requires around-the-clock care, including a ventilator, feeding tube and seizure monitoring — which Root largely manages at home.
Sue Root with her daughter Amy. (Courtesy Sue Root)
(Courtesy Sue Root)
“The suggestion that family caregivers are simply running errands or performing typical normal tasks that should be done for free is not only inaccurate, it is deeply dismissive of the reality of special needs families like mine,” Root said.
More than 11 million Americans are paid through government programs to care for elderly or disabled family members, according to a recent study. Many are reimbursed through a suite of state-administered Medicaid programs known as home- and community-based services, which compensate both family members and professional caregivers to help people live safely at home.
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Kennedy’s comments come as Medicaid home-care programs — which have long garnered bipartisan support as a cost-effective alternative to nursing homes and other institutions — face growing scrutiny from conservative policymakers and activists who have framed them as magnets for fraud and waste.
In a statement, Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon defended the agency’s scrutiny of home-care programs, saying they play an important role but “have long been vulnerable to misuse.”
White House spokesperson Kush Desai echoed that message, saying in a statement that “pervasive waste, fraud, and abuse in key health programs are not only a drain on taxpayers, but a threat to the long-term viability of these programs for the Americans who rely on them.”
Advocates do not dispute that fraud exists in large government programs and should be rooted out. State and federal prosecutors have secured convictions in recent years against operators who billed Medicaid for home-care services that were never provided or falsified to inflate payments, in some cases totaling tens of millions of dollars.
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But caregivers say Kennedy’s comments paint with too broad a brush and risk undermining services that millions depend on. Advocates also dispute the claim that there are no checks to ensure family caregivers are legitimate, noting that states typically require training, documentation of care and other oversight.
Medicaid home-care programs are already under strain. More than 600,000 disabled or elderly people are estimated to be on waitlists for services nationwide, and advocates say low pay and difficult working conditions have led to a chronic shortage of home-care workers.
In response to these pressures, which were amplified during the Covid pandemic, many states have expanded programs allowing family members to be paid caregivers — a shift backed by both Republicans and Democrats. In many parts of the country, especially rural areas, families say they cannot find workers with the skills to care for people with complex medical needs.
In those cases, Musheno said, paying family members can be both a practical and economic solution for people who leave the workforce to care for disabled relatives.
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“How can they afford to live if they’re not getting paid to take care of their child?” she said.
The controversy over Kennedy’s remarks comes as states grapple with rising health care costs, inflation-driven budget strains and looming federal Medicaid cuts under the “big, beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law last year — pressures already prompting some states to consider reducing home-based services.
Barbara Merrill, CEO of ANCOR, a national association representing providers of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said Kennedy’s comments have left community-based caregivers “gravely concerned” about the future of home care.
“They didn’t just denigrate family caregivers, they denigrated the work of the professionals in our fields by suggesting that all home- and community-based services could just be done by family caregivers, and it should all be done for free,” Merrill said. “It’s just shocking.”
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For families already stretched thin, the stakes are deeply personal.
Brandi Coon with her son Tyson. (Courtesy Brandi Coon)
(Courtesy Brandi Coon)
Brandi Coon, an Arizona mother of three who is paid through Medicaid to care for her 11-year-old son with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, said she was alarmed by Kennedy’s remarks. She responded with a Facebook post detailing her family’s experiences.
The post, which has been shared more than a thousand times, pushed back on the idea that Medicaid programs are wasteful, describing how they pulled her family out of financial and emotional crisis while keeping her son at home.
“Families like mine are not the problem,” Coon wrote. “We are part of the solution.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Comment summary
Powered by Yahoo Scout. Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from user comments. This means the info may not always match user comments about the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Comments include criticism of RFK Jr.'s stance on Medicaid family caregiving programs, with many defending the necessity and compassion of paying relatives for care while acknowledging some fraud exists. Other comments point to government waste and call for reform rather than elimination of these programs.
Views expressed are from commenters only.
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Ocasio-Cortez on Republicans complaining about Virginia redistricting: ‘Wah, wah, wah’
Ashleigh Fields
2 min read
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday mocked Republicans complaining about their Virginia redistricting loss and said she looks forward to picking up additional House seats in midterm elections.
Journalist Matt Laslo, founder of the Laslo Congressional Bureau outlet, asked Ocasio-Cortez to comment on Republicans’ pushback to the Tuesday redistricting win for Democrats.
“What do you think of Republicans saying that Virginia, you guys getting—,” Laslo started to ask.
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“Oh, wah, wah, wah,” the New York lawmaker interrupted.
When asked about comments regarding the measure being “unconstitutional” and “wrong,” Ocasio-Cortez said Republicans prompted the redrawing of congressional districts across the country.
“Listen, Democrats have attempted and asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering, and for 10 years, Republicans have said no. Republicans have fought for partisan gerrymanders across the United States of America, and these are the rules that they have set,” she said on the steps of the Capitol.
“And so if the Republican Party wanted to start this, they did this in North Carolina. They drew out three Democratic members of Congress in North Carolina. They drew out in Texas. They re-did Texas,” she added.
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The Tar Heel State and the Lone Star State both saw GOP lawmakers remap their congressional districts last year in favor of House Republicans, who currently hold a razor-thin majority in the lower chamber.
President Trump approved of the mid-decade redistricting effort in those two states but said the Virginia vote, approved by the public, was “rigged.”
“All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’ Where have I heard that before — And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory! Six to five goes to ten to one, and yet the Presidential Election in November was very close to a 50-50 split,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Florida Republicans are now considering new congressional lines in hopes of picking up seats in midterm elections, but some party members have warned against the proposal, citing recent Democratic wins in the Sunshine State.
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Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) said she would prefer to “have left the lines the way they were.”
“But if the governor of the state of Florida and the Legislature believes differently, who am I to say?” she added.
Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for a heated election season that will determine the future of the legislature during the final two years of the second Trump administration. GOP lawmakers are fighting to hold on to their trifecta earned in 2024.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Three Republican senators broke with the rest of the Senate GOP conference Wednesday night to vote in support of an amendment sponsored by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) to address insurance companies delaying or denying necessary medical care.
Vulnerable Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) joined conservative Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in voting with Democrats to support the amendment to create a point of order against a budget reconciliation bill that fails to address insurance companies’ delay or denial of medical care.
Ossoff moved to waive the applicable sections of the 1974 Budget Act to strike down the point-of-order objection but it fell 11 votes short of success. He needed 60 votes to waive the budget rules.
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“Think of the retired Georgia teacher who had paid over $100,000 into a cancer policy only to be diagnosed with cancer and have her insurance claims denied,” Ossoff said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.
“Think of the Monroe County mother of three diagnosed with cancer who needed a liver transplant, was told she had six to 12 months to live and had to fight her insurance company because her claim was denied,” he said.
Ossoff said his amendment would ensure that the budget reconciliation bill Republicans plan to advance to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol would also prevent insurance companies from denying or delaying medically necessary health care.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) raised a point-of-order objection to Ossoff’s amendment.
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“Adopting this amendment would jeopardize the privilege of the budget resolution and our ability to use reconciliation to reopen the Department of Homeland Security,” he said.
Ossoff moved to waive the applicable sections of the 1974 Budget Act to strike down the point-of-order objection but it fell one vote short of success.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) missed the votes Wednesday due to health and personal issues.
Senate Republicans scheduled votes late into the night Wednesday on a budget resolution they hope to pass to lay the procedural groundwork for a budget reconciliation package that could pass the upper chamber with a simple-majority vote and avoid a Democratic filibuster.
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Republicans want to use the budget reconciliation vehicle to pass 3 1/2 years of funding for ICE and Border Patrol. GOP aides estimate that package, which is expected to reach the Senate floor next month, will cost between $70 billion and $80 billion.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before a congressional panel on Wednesday in an often tense hearing that covered a variety of his past stances and current policies. One particularly heated moment came when RFK was confronted over a statement he made about Black children being “reparented,” leading to the Trump cabinet member apologizing for the comment and denying that he said it.
Kennedy denies recorded comment about wanting ‘Black kids’ on medication to be ‘reparented’
Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, part of a week of hearings in which he was grilled by members of both parties over issues ranging from prescription drug prices to his controversial stances on vaccines. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., confronted Kennedy concerning a comment he made on the High Level Conversations podcast in 2024 in which he expressed his opinion about sending children to “wellness farms” to be “reparented,” focusing specifically on “every Black kid” who has been prescribed medication such as Adderall. The “reparented” comment by Kennedy had been previously raised on April 16 by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., when Kennedy appeared in front of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Kennedy was defensive during his House appearance, saying that he didn’t remember saying it, and he gave similar denials to Alsobrooks. After the senator quoted Kennedy’s comment, he said, “I would have to see, hear that recording, because I have no memory of saying that,” while also proclaiming, “I do not believe that every Black kid should be reparented on a wellness farm or whatever, and I have never believed that.”
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With Alsobrooks chastising him for the comment, which she described as “ignorant to say, it was dangerous, and it was irresponsible,” Kennedy hedged on taking responsibility. “Well, if I said it, I apologize, but I’d have to see the transcript.”
RFK Jr.’s history of racial comments and bad science
During the hearing, Alsobrooks noted that Kennedy’s remarks were on video, and the clip was soon posted on social media. In it, Kennedy reflects on his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, starting the Peace Corp. Kennedy then declares, “My Peace Corps program is going to be, um, wellness farms, rehabilitation facilities that I’m going to start in rural areas all over the country, where people, any American can go for free, any of them who is dependent on drugs, either legal drugs or illegal drugs.” Kennedy then specifically references “psychiatric drugs which every Black kid is now just standard put on: Adderall, SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence. And those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get reparented, to live in a community where there will be no cellphones, no screens, you’ll actually have to talk to people.”
These remarks by Kennedy are among a long list of scientifically questionable, and sometimes racially charged, remarks and policy positions that he has taken. As The Hill noted, Kennedy previously suggested that COVID-19 could be an example of “ethnically targeted microbes” made by China to target certain racial and ethnic groups while sparing others; Kennedy attempted to explain away that comment, which was recorded. During Kennedy’s January 2025 confirmation hearing, Alsobrooks confronted him for comments he had made stating that Black people had stronger immune systems than white people and suggesting that Black children, therefore, have different vaccination schedules than non-Black children. Alsobrooks referred to Kennedy’s statement as “dangerous,” and one of the researchers who authored the study referenced in the hearing said that the data didn’t support Kennedy’s stance. Kennedy’s views, including hostility toward vaccines, have been called out by medical experts and members of both political parties as dangerous and not supported by science. Alsobrooks has repeatedly opposed the secretary and called on him to resign. During Wednesday’s hearings, one of her colleagues, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., echoed those calls.
“I think you’re dangerous to the American public, and you ought to be fired, and if you’re not fired, you ought to have the decency to resign,” Warnock told Kennedy on Wednesday.
Kennedy has frequently rejected criticisms of his past comments and current policy stances while pushing a public health agenda that experts and members of both political parties have condemned as unscientific and harmful. Even when directly confronted, Kennedy seems determined to push a radical health agenda while refusing to take accountability for racist remarks or dangerous policies.
