O'Keefe's Medicaid 'sting' attacks public workers for following the law

Ohio Gov. John Kasich

TPM's Ryan Reilly sums up James O'Keefe's latest smear job, this time on Medicaid offices and public employees in South Carolina.

A man goes into a public assistance office in Charleston, South Carolina in a kilt, tells them he's a member of the Irish Republican Army and asks for help for 25 fellow Irishmen in a hospital who need Medicaid.

A government employee follows the rules and explains the process for filling out a Medicaid paperwork and the qualifications they'd need to meet. She informs them that a federal law intended to protect patient privacy requires her not to divulge any information he's told her.

So what happens next? James O'Keefe's Project Veritas releases a deceptively edited video that makes the woman look like a terrorist sympathizer, though it isn't even clear if she knows the background of the IRA.

More than a little pathetic. But not necessarily ineffective, at least in states where there's a Republican executive. Consider Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich has gone after Medicaid with almost the same zeal he's gone after public employees. Here he has the excuse to do both.

The result of O'Keefe's cut and paste video job in Ohio counties is mandatory retraining for county social workers and an investigation by the Department of Job and Family Services.

Because the county employees did their jobs, explained the rules and the process, and helped with applications. Which were not approved.

There wasn't fraud here. Unless it's in O'Keefe's attempt to provide Republican policymakers with more ammunition for attacking public employees and the Medicaid program.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/_zCMJkwSPnE/-OKeefes-Medicaid-sting-attacks-public-workers-for-following-the-law

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