{"id":500,"date":"2026-05-19T09:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=500"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:33:18","slug":"republican-lawmakers-say-arizona-not-doing-enough-to-combat-medicaid-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=500","title":{"rendered":"Republican lawmakers say Arizona not doing enough to combat Medicaid fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b>\u2014 Republican lawmakers and some behavioral health care providers claim that efforts to address Arizona Medicaid fraud have not gone far enough, despite state officials saying they have been cracking down for years.<\/p>\n

Read more Tucson staycation deals offer Memorial Day alternatives as gas prices climb<\/a><\/p>\n

State Sen. Carine Werner, R-Scottsdale, and others held a news conference at the state Capitol to raise concerns about the AHCCCS system, Arizona\u2019s Medicaid program.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one in our government has been held accountable for creating a system that allowed the fraud to occur or standing by while it infested our communities and destroyed families,\u201d Werner said.<\/p>\n

Fraud targets vulnerable populations<\/h2>\n

Attorney Heather Dukes said the fraud has impacted vulnerable Arizona families for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey targeted Native Americans, stole staggering sums of money and they left people homeless, traumatized and in worst cases, dead,\u201d Dukes said.<\/p>\n

Reva Stewart, a Native American business owner, said family and friends are still being targeted by individuals trying to convince them to apply for services they do not need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came to my store,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cWe\u2019re at a point where we have to educate our own people, educate families and tell them if you\u2019re going to get help these are the red flags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney general defends record<\/h2>\n

Werner said the governor and attorney general have not done enough to crack down on bad actors and create a system that better protects the public from patient brokering, unlicensed providers and exploitation.<\/p>\n

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Last week, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes held a news conference to address concerns about Medicaid fraud. She said her office has indicted 140 people and is actively working with the FBI to investigate every Medicaid fraud complaint that comes in.<\/p>\n

Mayes said efforts are being made to address problems within the system. She said the Republican news conference was unnecessary and said she believed Werner was trying to score political points.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was grateful and thankful to my agents when they visited her but she turned this into a bullsh** political attack last night because that\u2019s all Republicans like Werner know how to do,\u201d Mayes said.<\/p>\n

A number of bills are being considered at the state Legislature that would tighten up oversight of the AHCCS system. The governor announced last week that a new AI tool will soon be used to help weed out fraud in the Medicaid program.<\/p>\n

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Read more \u2018No rate hikes\u2019: APS customers protest proposed bill increase at hearing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arizona lawmakers say Medicaid fraud targeting tribal communities is still putting vulnerable families at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublican lawmakers say Arizona not doing enough to combat Medicaid fraud - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=500\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republican lawmakers say Arizona not doing enough to combat Medicaid fraud - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arizona lawmakers say Medicaid fraud targeting tribal communities is still putting vulnerable families at risk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=500\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T09:33:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Republican lawmakers say Arizona not doing enough to combat Medicaid fraud\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T09:33:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/3440956672b75e210fdf8368055ee81f.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=500\",\"name\":\"Republican lawmakers say Arizona not doing enough to combat Medicaid fraud - 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