A recent Health Affairs Forefront piece, “Unfounded Fraud Allegations Threaten Vital Medicaid Home And Community-Based Services,” counters CMS’s justification for its crackdowns on “fraud” in home and community based services (HCBS). The article outlines how bipartisan efforts over many decades formed current HCBS policies, “HCBS is the principal means by which older adults and people with disabilities avoid unnecessary and more expensive institutional care; it is the legal framework for state compliance with federal civil rights law.” The article importantly discusses the safeguards that presently exist to prevent fraud, “…strong safeguards [are] already in place to prevent such fraud through targeted enforcement.. . . mechanisms [which] allow states and the federal government to identify and address specific vulnerabilities without disrupting lawful—and critical—services.” The article also cautions that the proposed crackdowns would likely jeopardize access to these essential services for older adults and people with disabilities who currently rely on them to be able to remain safely in their homes and communities.
March 19, 2026 – K. Kertesz