An Ohio attorney and whistleblower says Minnesota’s massive welfare fraud is just the “tip of the spear” and claims the Ohio Somali community is involved in the fraudulent “rubber-stamping” of Medicaid waiver services.
The scheme involves Ohio’s Medicaid waiver programs for home health care and doctors who get kickbacks for enrolling people, even approving them for fake medical conditions.
Besides allegations that elderly residents and relatives are being “coached” to lie to doctors, home health companies, and family members of elderly individuals, they can get paid for caregiving and in-home services.
Mehek Cooke, an Ohio attorney and conservative commentator, told Fox News Digital that “Minnesota was just the tip of the spear” when it comes to fraud among taxpayer-funded social service programs.
“It’s not about targeting a community, but it’s really about calling out these criminals who are draining resources for the elderly, disabled and taxpayers,” Cooke said. “Ohio deserves better.”
Ohio offers several Medicaid waivers for in-home care, primarily the Ohio Home Care Waiver for those under 60 with physical disabilities who need nursing-level care, and the PASSPORT Waiver for seniors 60 years and older who need support to stay home.
How It Works
In the 10-minute video interview, Cooke explains the extent of the scam and how it works.
“Say I want to take care of my elderly aging parents at some point. I can become a home health provider, and this is where the Somali community has been really clever,” Cooke explained. “They’ve been able to find loopholes in Ohio law to provide for care for family members, even when they don’t need it.”
Cooke’s allegations are coming to light following reports of widespread welfare and Medicaid fraud in Minnesota, largely tied to the state’s Somali community. Some reports say the fraud could top $1 billion, and it’s now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the House Oversight Committee.
Breadth of the Scandal
As of December 2025, 87 individuals have been charged in Minnesota, and 78 of those are related to the Feeding Our Future COVID-era scam that was supposed to provide meals to needy children.
Other cases involve Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program, and another elaborate scheme that recruited Somali children into autism therapy services even if they didn’t need them.
In Ohio, Cooke alleges that family members and others in the Ohio Somali community are coached to say they need home health care, while providers are pressured and threatened to rubber-stamp the approvals.
“Most of the people are terrified,” Cooke said of people who don’t want to participate in the fraud. “They said ‘I will be stoned to death if I show my face on camera.’”
Cooke said the program needs regular audits and better oversight, and the feds should expand their investigation to Ohio since it has the second-largest Somali population in the country.
The Ohio Landscape
In Columbus, Ohio, the Somali population is estimated at 40,000 to 60,000. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine praised Ohio’s Somali community and detracted from President Donald Trump’s recent criticisms of Somali refugees.
“I would say that in Columbus we have many people who came here from Somalia, who work hard and contribute to the community and to the economy,” DeWine told reporters last week.
Cooke agreed that many are law-abiding people who are in the country legally, but a criminal element has figured out a way to game the system.
“As you continue to see what is happening across the country, logically you should start with a place like Ohio,” Cooke said. “We don’t have continuous audits. We look like we’re just allowing fraud to run rampant.”
She explained that scammers in the community have found a way to exploit a loophole in Ohio’s Medicaid program. It allows individuals to receive Medicaid payments totaling up to $91,000 per year per individual for care they supposedly provide to a family member, Fox News Digital reported.
Cooke alleges that family members and others are being approved as caregivers to provide care for family members “even when they don’t need it.”
“An individual will come in from the community, ask a doctor to say my family member has memory issues, needs help bathing, or has mobility issues, and clinicians are rubber-stamping this and getting kickbacks,” she said. “They’re just rubber-stamping a lot of these.
“And then that same individual, a week later, that’s supposed to be bedridden, is all over social media, whether they’re out dancing at a party or something like that. So, the symptoms aren’t really adding up at the end of the day,” Cooke continued.
‘This is happening through coaching’
Cooke said that, according to community providers, the vast majority of individuals receiving the Medicaid waiver for home health care have been coached and do not qualify for the program.
Cooke said the scheme doesn’t stop with relatives. There are other ways to scam the system. Home health aide businesses and others within the Somali community have door-knockers who go door-to-door to solicit seniors and people with disabilities to sign up for services.
Providers who approve these people for the program also receive kickbacks themselves, according to Cooke. The ones who don’t go along with it are “made to be villains or receive death threats.”
Cooke said the system is ripe for fraud because care is happening in someone’s home, so no one is there to monitor what is happening. Independent audits and home visits should be required to determine whether the person actually needs care.
“This is happening through coaching,” Cooke explained. “They’re pocketing thousands upon thousands, which adds up to millions of dollars.”
Some providers and home health care companies are also bilking the system through ghost billing, or fake billing, and charging the state for services never provided.
Cooke said every state, including Ohio, should be calling for audits of their Medicaid system and their programs. It’s not acceptable to “approve first and verify later.”
The program needs better oversight with independent assessments by doctors and “somebody at the Department of Medicaid coming in.” Oftentimes, no one verifies a person’s medical condition with follow-up home visits.
“Everybody wants to make this a Somali issue or a race issue. It’s not,” Cooke said. “Our waiver system in Ohio was built with compassion and to really help people who are struggling and in need, but it’s being looted today. … It’s (fraud) occurring at glaring rates, and it’s becoming a business model in Ohio.”
