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Three Missippi mothers may go to jail 20+ years for lying in order to get medical care. The source is below.
https://foxsanantonio.com/amp/news/...heir-kids-officials-say-tennessee-mississippi
Nakina Brooks reportedly used a false address to apply to TennCare, a state program in Tennessee that offers healthcare for needy families with children, pregnant women and the elderly. By doing so Nakina received health benefits for herself and her son, but as Southaven Mississippi residents the family are not considered eligible to have TennCare pay their medical expenses.
The Inspector General Kim Harmon explained TennCare's guidelines, "An integral requirement for qualifying for TennCare is residing within the state lines of Tennessee."
Ms Brooks is charged with fraud, and can receive a sentence of up to 24 years in jail if convicted.
A woman from Olive Branch, Mississippi is accused of the same crime. Nancy Smith is said to have also filed for healthcare benefits for her three children from TennCare, but did not include her Mississippi residence so that her family would not be disqualified from receiving assistance. Smith may receive a 27-year jail sentence.
A third parent Nikki Carr, also from Olive Branch, Mississippi, is charged with TennCare fraud for enrolling her children for the services despite living out of state. She could go to prison for 24 years like Brooks.
This story honestly infuriated me, but not for the reasons that one might think. Tennessee's Department of Finance and Administration has posted the mugshots of the mothers on the website, followed by a warning of the consequences of fraud, yet I personally think these are circumstances to be pitied, rather than a situation where we should boast of catching a common criminal.
I believe that Carr, Brooks and Smith broke the law, as did Jean Valjean of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables when he stole bread to feed his family when there was nothing to eat. I think at the very least this is a situation that has a shade of gray. I personally believe that nobody deserves to go without medical care when they need it, just as I think nobody deserves to starve when they are hungry.
The accusation against the women is not that their families were not genuinely receiving medical treatment, and misused money meant to take care of the children to buy jewelry, a new big screen tv set or tickets to the superbowl. They indeed have kids and used TennCare to pay for visits to the doctor. What the legal issue at hand is that they went outside of their community to get care for the children, and TennCare only treats residents from Tennessee. Evidently in the state they lived in there wasn't a good option for assistance to their families, at least not one that was easily affordable to them.
I don't blame TennCare for only taking in people locally, because I imagine they are poorly funded like most programs for poor people unfortunately, and can barely take care of the families in that community. I also can't blame a mother for submitting false paperwork to pay for medical bills. What I think is morally reprehensible is the larger system of healthcare in the USA where good health is treated as a commodity, and the prices of treatment are so unaffordable that it comes down to desperate measures like this. It's very unfortunate that there is no mercy even when there are children involved or there is a pandemic that killed 200,000 people in the country.
I hope at the very least charges against these mothers will be dropped. I don't doubt what they did was against the law, but I don't think someone truly morally deserves to go to jail over trying to participate in a healthcare program, just as I don't think someone would truly warrant having their hand chopped off for stealing water. I think this a crime that is human, and the law is inhumane.
Imprisoning these women for 20-30 years and sending the kids to grow up in orphanages or foster homes will ironically probably cost the state and tax payers more than the amount of the medical bills. Does anyone else think that this does not look like justice served?
https://foxsanantonio.com/amp/news/...heir-kids-officials-say-tennessee-mississippi
Nakina Brooks reportedly used a false address to apply to TennCare, a state program in Tennessee that offers healthcare for needy families with children, pregnant women and the elderly. By doing so Nakina received health benefits for herself and her son, but as Southaven Mississippi residents the family are not considered eligible to have TennCare pay their medical expenses.
The Inspector General Kim Harmon explained TennCare's guidelines, "An integral requirement for qualifying for TennCare is residing within the state lines of Tennessee."
Ms Brooks is charged with fraud, and can receive a sentence of up to 24 years in jail if convicted.
A woman from Olive Branch, Mississippi is accused of the same crime. Nancy Smith is said to have also filed for healthcare benefits for her three children from TennCare, but did not include her Mississippi residence so that her family would not be disqualified from receiving assistance. Smith may receive a 27-year jail sentence.
A third parent Nikki Carr, also from Olive Branch, Mississippi, is charged with TennCare fraud for enrolling her children for the services despite living out of state. She could go to prison for 24 years like Brooks.
This story honestly infuriated me, but not for the reasons that one might think. Tennessee's Department of Finance and Administration has posted the mugshots of the mothers on the website, followed by a warning of the consequences of fraud, yet I personally think these are circumstances to be pitied, rather than a situation where we should boast of catching a common criminal.
I believe that Carr, Brooks and Smith broke the law, as did Jean Valjean of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables when he stole bread to feed his family when there was nothing to eat. I think at the very least this is a situation that has a shade of gray. I personally believe that nobody deserves to go without medical care when they need it, just as I think nobody deserves to starve when they are hungry.
The accusation against the women is not that their families were not genuinely receiving medical treatment, and misused money meant to take care of the children to buy jewelry, a new big screen tv set or tickets to the superbowl. They indeed have kids and used TennCare to pay for visits to the doctor. What the legal issue at hand is that they went outside of their community to get care for the children, and TennCare only treats residents from Tennessee. Evidently in the state they lived in there wasn't a good option for assistance to their families, at least not one that was easily affordable to them.
I don't blame TennCare for only taking in people locally, because I imagine they are poorly funded like most programs for poor people unfortunately, and can barely take care of the families in that community. I also can't blame a mother for submitting false paperwork to pay for medical bills. What I think is morally reprehensible is the larger system of healthcare in the USA where good health is treated as a commodity, and the prices of treatment are so unaffordable that it comes down to desperate measures like this. It's very unfortunate that there is no mercy even when there are children involved or there is a pandemic that killed 200,000 people in the country.
I hope at the very least charges against these mothers will be dropped. I don't doubt what they did was against the law, but I don't think someone truly morally deserves to go to jail over trying to participate in a healthcare program, just as I don't think someone would truly warrant having their hand chopped off for stealing water. I think this a crime that is human, and the law is inhumane.
Imprisoning these women for 20-30 years and sending the kids to grow up in orphanages or foster homes will ironically probably cost the state and tax payers more than the amount of the medical bills. Does anyone else think that this does not look like justice served?
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