Posted on 08/16/2010 6:46:39 AM PDT by george76
About 11,000 dead people in seven states, including Maryland, have gotten government heating aid over the past year or so, according to congressional investigators.
They say that the grave is cold, but it's illegal to receive energy subsidies when your address is six feet under.
Plenty of other Marylanders may also be ripping off the $5 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, to judge from last month's report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In the seven states, the GAO found households receiving more than $100 million in benefits even though recipients weren't sufficiently documented on state records as being eligible.
Hundreds of prisoners also collected assistance, another mark of fraud. So did nursing-home residents, who aren't eligible for aid either. Households listed deceased and incarcerated people and other nonresidents to qualify for or inflate their so-called LIHEAP benefits, which are paid to energy companies and landlords to reduce family heating bills.
Perhaps the most disturbing finding is that Maryland and the other states "lack key efforts in all three crucial elements of a well-designed fraud prevention system, preventive controls, detection and monitoring and investigations and prosecutions," the agency said.
Given the lack of controls found by the GAO, it's no wonder that many people seem to be trying to steal from the government and succeeding.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.baltimoresun.com ...
hahha no yoke!
It is too bad that first of all, LIHEAP exists in the first place. Any form of energy assistance should be handled by private charities. If we really want to make it easy, add another line item to peoples' electric bills where they can voluntarily donate money to buy energy for those who need it. But on top of that, anyone who is on any form of energy assistance must have their own usage restricted. Such people should not be allowed to set their heat to 80 degrees in the winter when the rest of us have to set our heat at 65 or less because energy costs so much.
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Study finds fraud, abuse in Md. energy program
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This is news?
The Democrats control The Oval Office, House and Senate.
It would be news if there wasn’t massive theft of the taxpayers’ dollars.
Forward to Maryland *Freak State* ping list?
Maybe they vote for Al Franken when visting MN ,too.
I hear they vote, too!
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
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