1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Exploiting autism families to milk medicaid is about as low 2 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: as it gets. Self report by April third or face 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: the Feds. It's not a soft deadline. It's their last 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: chance before the door kicks in. What are we talking about, Well, 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: the FSSA Indiana some state officials they're anticipating a federal 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: investigation into the state's autism therapy program following a publication 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: of that recent Wall Street Journal article that called autism 8 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: therapy Medicaid's fastest growing jackpot, and it's happening here in Indiana. 9 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: And the FSSA Secretary Mitch Rube, he held a meeting 10 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: and he said, you know what you've got April third, 11 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: that's the deadline to self report your business practices that 12 00:00:54,720 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: could be considered fraud, waste and abuse. Sounds good, But 13 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: are we really asking them to self report? Yeah, that 14 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: doesn't have a lot of teeth in it. 15 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 2: No, not at all. Yeah, self report. Hey, if you 16 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 2: scammed us, please let us know. Yeah, that sounds like 17 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 2: a good strategy. So there's two things here. There's what's 18 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 2: happened in the past, and that was what's happened in 19 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 2: the past was highlighted with this Wall Street Journal call 20 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 2: Wall Street Journal article that came out a couple of 21 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 2: weeks ago, and so that's happened in the past. And 22 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 2: by the way, we're talking about like twenty twenty three. 23 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 2: And so I certainly don't blame anybody in the current administration, 24 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 2: Governor Braun or any of the agency heads because they 25 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 2: weren't there. That was under the previous Hulkome administration. But 26 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 2: what happened in the past wasn't, at least from the 27 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 2: Wall Street Journal article, wasn't waste, fraud and abuse. It 28 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 2: was just a total lack of oversight on the Indiana's 29 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 2: state agencies. And in fact, it talks about this this 30 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 2: autism company called Peace by Piece Autism Centers, and the 31 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 2: woman who runs the company is quoted in the Wall 32 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 2: Street Journal article and just talked about how she was 33 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 2: essentially raising her rates and that they were within and 34 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 2: complied with Indiana State's rules, and the state never objected 35 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 2: to her pricing despite the fact that she was charging 36 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 2: over three hundred thousand dollars a year to treat one patient. 37 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 2: Seems like a lot of money. And in fact, she's 38 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 2: quoted as saying, I don't think Indiana really had any 39 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 2: oversight or not much. That's the problem. So I object 40 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: to the way that a lot of these state agencies 41 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: talking about now are talking about waste fraud and abuse. No, 42 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 2: that wasn't it. That is language that absolves the state 43 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 2: from the responsibility that they had to put oversight in 44 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 2: place in the past. That's a huge problem in my opinion. 45 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 2: Now going forward, Yeah, it's a little shady that they're like, hey, 46 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 2: if you scammed us, please let us know. We want 47 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 2: you to self report. Now, there may be legitimate waste 48 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 2: fraud and abuse that's taking place, and I hope that 49 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 2: the FSSA certainly digs into that and finds it, and 50 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 2: it might be that the FEDS are going to get 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 2: involved on it now. But I want to point out 52 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 2: importantly that according to this Wall Street Journal article from 53 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago that triggered all of this conversation, 54 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 2: it doesn't appear that these autism centers in Indiana, or 55 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 2: at least this one highlighted in the Wall Street journalal 56 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 2: our article, did anything wrong. In fact, it sounds like 57 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 2: who was in the wrong was the state, because there 58 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,519 Speaker 2: were no restrictions and rules, or at least not enough restrictions, 59 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 2: rules and regulations as part of it. 60 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: So the focus should be then cutting down on misuse 61 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: of taxpayer money. If it's connected to expensive or questionable 62 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: billing practices, well it's the. 63 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 2: Lack of it's the lack of oversight on this. Look, 64 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 2: we just had this conversation about Minneapolis and the Somali daycares. There, 65 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 2: things were running them up and there was no oversight 66 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 2: and there was no accountability. That's the government's responsibility for 67 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 2: doing that. Now, I'm not saying that this is the 68 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 2: exact same thing that's happening here in Indiana, but it 69 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 2: looks like what happened in this article in twenty three 70 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 2: was the state's fault. The state didn't have the oversight. 71 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 2: So I'm not going to blame this woman that runs 72 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 2: this autism company that she just raising her prices. And again, 73 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 2: they complied with Indiana's rules and the state never objected 74 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 2: to it. So how about we get our state oversight 75 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 2: in order first, and then we can worry about the 76 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 2: rest of it if there's any additional waste, fraud and 77 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 2: abuse beyond that. 78 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: And keep in mind, cleaning this up isn't anti autism, 79 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 1: it's pro child because Obviously you want the money to 80 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: go where it's supposed to be going, but state leaders 81 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: say that they want to boost oversight like you mentioned, 82 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: also accountability and quality of care while still controlling the cost. Now, 83 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 1: speaking of costs, the one that you think about a lot. 84 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: Indiana utility regulators question the state's largest energy companies about 85 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: their rising rates after years of rate hikes that have 86 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: so many people frustrated. The companies involved are the state's 87 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: big five investor owned utilities, and you've got the IURC 88 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: talking with them about their prices, and the regulators they're 89 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: asking for affordability and transparency as your electric bill has 90 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: climbed and many Hoosiers are struggling to pay these costs. 91 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, and the i u r C, you know, called 92 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 2: in the big five investor owned utility companies, and so 93 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 2: that's AES, Indiana, Center, Point Energy of Indiana, Duke Energy 94 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 2: of Indiana, Indiana, Michigan Power in NIPSKOE. So you're likely 95 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 2: covered by one of those groups here, And I think 96 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 2: what frustrates a lot of Hoosiers. And look, this is 97 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: good and there's gonna be these public hearings on energy 98 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 2: rate affordability and that's fine, that's good. We should do that. 99 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 2: But it can't end there. And it seems like there's 100 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 2: a lot of frustration among Hoosiers because there's a lot 101 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 2: of talk. There's a lot of talk about meetings, and 102 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 2: there's a lot of talk about committees. Oh and I 103 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,239 Speaker 2: promise this time, Mark of course. Yeah, this time we're gonna, 104 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 2: you know, hold people accountable. But there doesn't seem to 105 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 2: be a lot of action. Oh and by the way, 106 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 2: the new head of the iurc Andy's a long time 107 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 2: stay lawmaker, lots of ties to energy interests. So again 108 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 2: understandable if hoosiers are skeptical because you put a guy 109 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 2: in there who had real strong ties to energy interests 110 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 2: and now he's part of the regulatory group that's overseeing 111 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 2: those same energy interests. What I think hoosiers want is 112 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 2: some action on all of this. Talk is good, but 113 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 2: it can't be just talk. Eventually, Indiana lawmakers are going 114 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 2: to have to do something to make life more affordable 115 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 2: for the average, every day Hoosier because people are getting 116 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 2: priced out of living their lives. Proof point. We've got 117 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,359 Speaker 2: the data. It came out in February. The state of 118 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 2: Indiana was ranked number one in the nation for home 119 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 2: foreclosures per capita, number one in the nation, proof that 120 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 2: the lives of every day Hoosiers is becoming more and 121 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 2: more unaffordable.