\n\t\t\t\t\t\tVice President JD Vance was asked about his upcoming visit to Maine during a press conference he held on Wednesday to discuss the White House’s efforts to combat fraud.The press conference happened after the Trump administration announced a six-month freeze on any new Medicare enrollments by hospice and home health agencies.”We’ve seen systemic and deeply troubling fraud in the hospice and home health space, with bad actors exploiting some of our most vulnerable Medicare patients and stealing money from the American taxpayer,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement. “Today we’re shutting the door on fraud-preventing new bad actors from entering Medicare while we aggressively identify, investigate, and remove those already exploiting them.”On Monday, the Maine Republican Party announced that Vance would be speaking at the Bangor International Airport at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.On Tuesday, the White House revealed that during Vance’s visit to Bangor, he will deliver remarks on the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud.Maine Gov. Janet Mills and her administration have been at odds with the federal government on the issue of fraud over the last few months.”We’d love to have a better conversation, a better relationship, and work very deliberately on this question of fraud and certainly have an open hand, have an open heart in this White House to working with anybody, including the governor of Maine,” Vance said Wednesday.Vance also said he would be campaigning with former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who is running for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.Trump administration’s allegations of fraud in Maine On Jan. 23, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that an audit revealed Maine made at least $45.6 million in improper fee-for-service Medicaid payments for rehabilitative and community support (RCS) services provided to children diagnosed with autism.Two weeks later, Oz said in a social media post that Maine needed to “clean up its act” when it came to Medicaid fraud. CMS also sent a letter to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, in which it asked Gov. Janet Mills to explain how MaineCare \u2014 the state’s Medicaid program \u2014 prevents fraud, identifies when fraud happens, bans providers from billing the system and recovers misspent funds. Mills responded to that letter by saying Maine was facing “a political attack” from President Donald Trump.During his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, Trump accused Maine of fraud and announced a “war on fraud” that would be led by Vance. In a statement responding to Trump’s claim, a spokesperson for Mills said Maine would “not be intimidated by the president’s threats” and said addressing fraud allegations should be a joint effort between the state and federal government.On March 6, Mills announced that her administration had responded to the CMS request for information about MaineCare and said the state was conducting oversight to ensure MaineCare providers are held to high standards, adding that the state has robust enforcement mechanisms to identify fraud.MaineCare overpayments to nonprofitIn December 2025, 8 Investigates received documents showing Gateway Community Services, a nonprofit organization that works with Somali immigrants in Maine, was overpaid $662,608 by the state between 2015 and 2018. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said the overpayment finding was the result of two multiyear audits that were conducted as a result of complaints.Less than a month later, a DHHS spokesperson informed 8 Investigates that the Office of MaineCare Services’ Program Integrity Unit had launched a third audit in January 2023 in response to internal data analytics. The review found Gateway Community Services was overpaid $1,068,598 from March 2021 through December 2022.An attorney representing Gateway Community Services confirmed in an email to 8 Investigates that the organization received a new notice from the Program Integrity Unit indicating that the nonprofit’s MaineCare reimbursements were paused over assertions of improper billing for interpreter services.In a statement issued in January, Mills said she supports a full investigation into Gateway Community Services amid the fraud allegations.Maine’s Total Coverage political reporter Jackie Mundry contributed to this report.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tBANGOR, Maine \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance was asked about his upcoming visit to Maine during a press conference he held on Wednesday to discuss the White House’s efforts to combat fraud.<\/p>\n
The press conference happened after the Trump administration announced a six-month freeze<\/a> on any new Medicare enrollments by hospice and home health agencies.<\/p>\n “We’ve seen systemic and deeply troubling fraud in the hospice and home health space, with bad actors exploiting some of our most vulnerable Medicare patients and stealing money from the American taxpayer,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement. “Today we’re shutting the door on fraud-preventing new bad actors from entering Medicare while we aggressively identify, investigate, and remove those already exploiting them.”<\/p>\n On Monday, the Maine Republican Party announced<\/a> that Vance would be speaking at the Bangor International Airport at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the White House revealed<\/a> that during Vance’s visit to Bangor, he will deliver remarks on the Trump administration’s efforts to combat fraud.<\/p>\n Maine Gov. Janet Mills and her administration have been at odds with the federal government on the issue of fraud over the last few months.<\/p>\n “We’d love to have a better conversation, a better relationship, and work very deliberately on this question of fraud and certainly have an open hand, have an open heart in this White House to working with anybody, including the governor of Maine,” Vance said Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vance also said he would be campaigning with former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who is running for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n Trump administration’s allegations of fraud in Maine <\/p>\n On Jan. 23, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that an audit revealed Maine made at least $45.6 million in improper fee-for-service Medicaid payments<\/a> for rehabilitative and community support (RCS) services provided to children diagnosed with autism.<\/p>\n Two weeks later, Oz said in a social media post<\/a> that Maine needed to “clean up its act” when it came to Medicaid fraud. CMS also sent a letter to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, in which it asked Gov. Janet Mills to explain how MaineCare \u2014 the state’s Medicaid program \u2014 prevents fraud, identifies when fraud happens, bans providers from billing the system and recovers misspent funds. Mills responded to that letter<\/a> by saying Maine was facing “a political attack” from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n During his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, Trump accused Maine of fraud<\/a> and announced a “war on fraud” that would be led by Vance. In a statement responding to Trump’s claim, a spokesperson for Mills said Maine would “not be intimidated by the president’s threats” and said addressing fraud allegations should be a joint effort between the state and federal government.<\/p>\n On March 6, Mills announced<\/a> that her administration had responded to the CMS request for information about MaineCare and said the state was conducting oversight to ensure MaineCare providers are held to high standards, adding that the state has robust enforcement mechanisms to identify fraud.<\/p>\n MaineCare overpayments to nonprofit<\/p>\n In December 2025, 8 Investigates received documents showing Gateway Community Services, a nonprofit organization that works with Somali immigrants in Maine, was overpaid $662,608 by the state<\/a> between 2015 and 2018. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said the overpayment finding was the result of two multiyear audits that were conducted as a result of complaints.<\/p>\n Less than a month later, a DHHS spokesperson informed 8 Investigates that the Office of MaineCare Services’ Program Integrity Unit had launched a third audit in January 2023 in response to internal data analytics. The review found Gateway Community Services was overpaid $1,068,598<\/a> from March 2021 through December 2022.<\/p>\n An attorney representing Gateway Community Services confirmed in an email to 8 Investigates that the organization received a new notice from the Program Integrity Unit indicating that the nonprofit’s MaineCare reimbursements were paused over assertions of improper billing for interpreter services.<\/p>\n In a statement issued in January, Mills said she supports a full investigation into Gateway Community Services amid the fraud allegations.<\/p>\n Maine’s Total Coverage political reporter Jackie Mundry<\/a> contributed to this report.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t