Shocking Louisiana Audit: Medicaid Paid Millions for Deceased Beneficiaries

A report just released from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office has raised a number of questions.

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In this report, the findings, which are far too familiar of late, it was determined that in Louisiana, Medicaid paid nearly $10 million to healthcare organizations for 1,072 beneficiaries who were deceased.

Dead; gone; no longer living???. And yet, the money kept rolling out of the Medicare till like they were still right here with us.

In a report from wbrz.com we learn that "no one received benefits directly despite being dead. The $9.6 million was paid to managed care organizations through fixed payments between February 2019 and March 2025."

Thus the questions many have regarding this monumental snafu include:

• This was going on for six years and we are just now discovering the error?
• Why isn't there some type of audit each year?
• What's the longest any organization continued to receive payment despite the beneficiary's death?
• Do any of these cases actually precede the dates of this study?  If so, for how long?
• Will these managed care organizations be forced to repay this money?

In a separate story from louisianaradionetwork.com we learn how State auditor Chris Magee discovered these beneficiaries were actually deceased. Magee said, "We identified 511 of these beneficiaries through obituaries, 210 through LDH vital records data, 168 through the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File.”

Magee went on to state their recommendation to the Louisiana Department of Health to use third-party data sources in the future as their efforts continue to purge any Medicare beneficiaries from the system who have died.

Magee says those sources would include things, "Such as obituaries, the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File, and other states’ vital records databases.”

The good news is that LDH did accept those recommendations and will hopefully get a better grasp on this issue in the future.  However, there is still the question about what has already transpired?  Have those paying into Medicare just lost these funds forever, or will someone be forced to pay restitution?

Hopefully we will get answers to that one in the very near future.