Sunday, January 19, 2025
As a lifelong Long Islander, I see firsthand the financial burdens weighing on families in our community — sky-high grocery bills, rising property taxes, and an inflationary squeeze that seems to touch everything. What’s infuriating is that while Long Island families are tightening our belts, Albany is letting fraudsters run wild, stealing millions of dollars from the very programs designed to help those in genuine need.
The system is broken. Agencies tasked with protecting taxpayers — the office of the attorney general, the Department of Financial Services, the Medicaid inspector general and others — have the tools to prosecute fraud, yet their inaction is staggering. In 2023 alone, the Department of Financial Services received 35,722 reports of suspected health care fraud, but opened just 77 investigations, leading to a mere 24 arrests.
That’s fewer arrests than many local police departments make in a month. And the office of the Welfare inspector general, which reviewed 723 allegations of public assistance fraud in 2022, prosecuted only 13 people.
Those numbers aren’t just statistics — they’re a betrayal of every taxpayer in this state. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar stolen from Long Island and all New York families who are already stretched thin. That’s money that could have been used to lower taxes, improve our schools, or invest in the infrastructure that keeps our communities strong.
Fraud isn’t a victimless crime. It erodes trust in government, undermines programs meant to lift people out of hardship and forces honest taxpayers to pay more to cover the losses. Yet under one-party rule in Albany, there’s no urgency to tackle this crisis. Fraud has become an acceptable cost of doing business.
I refuse to accept that. That’s why I’m taking action.
When the legislative session begins next Wednesday, I’ll be introducing a slate of bills to overhaul how New York handles public assistance fraud, starting with the Statewide Transparency and Mandated Prosecution, or STAMP Out Fraud Act. This legislation will demand transparency from state agencies, mandate better coordination among enforcement bodies, and ensure that fraudsters face real consequences.
Some will say we already have laws to punish fraud — and they’re right. New York’s penal law includes stiff penalties for public assistance fraud, including prison time and fines. But laws are useless if they’re not enforced. The lack of prosecutions is a glaring failure of leadership, and it’s Long Islanders and all other New Yorkers who are paying the price.
We need to stop treating fraud like a bureaucratic oversight and start treating it like the theft that it is. Fraudsters aren’t just gaming the system — they’re stealing from you, your family and your neighbors. It’s time to put an end to the excuses, demand accountability and restore faith in the integrity of our public assistance programs. We have the tools to fix this, and I will stop at nothing until New York gets serious about using them.
Jake Blumencranz represents the 15th Assembly District.
