Overview
- Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke alleged a coordinated scheme in Columbus in which some providers and doctors secure Medicaid home-care approvals for ineligible relatives and share kickbacks.
- She described door-to-door recruiting, coached claims of severe conditions, and "ghost billing" for services that were unnecessary or never delivered.
- Cooke said individual payouts under Ohio’s program can reach roughly $91,000 per year for purported in-home care.
- She emphasized that her claims target criminal exploitation rather than the broader Somali community and urged audits of Medicaid programs.
- The coverage cites no Ohio charges or official probes tied to these claims, and WSBT reported it requested comment from the state’s Medicaid department.