Is Maine the next Minnesota?
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), openly asked that question in a video posted to X on Friday. Sources tell the Maine Wire the video sent high-level state officials scrambling as they headed into Super Bowl weekend.
Oz’s scrutiny of Maine’s Medicaid program, known in Maine as MaineCare, followed the Jan. 22 release of a blistering audit showing $46 million in suspected fraud within one MaineCare program in a single year. According to the audit, Maine’s management of Medicaid spending, which is shared between the state and federal governments, suffered from massive non-compliance issues in MaineCare Section 28, i.e. rehabilitative and community support (RCS) services for children with autism. That service category happens to be exactly the same type of services that were systemically defrauded in Minnesota, almost entirely by members of the Somali community, and it happens to be a program that Gateway Community Services billed under.
However, a Maine Wire investigation has found widespread concern within another, larger MaineCare program — Section 21 — a program that provides residential care in two-person group homes for adults with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental disorders.
An unnamed Section 21 group home was the location of an assault on a disabled resident earlier this month at the hands of a group home employee, according to media reports. Multiple law enforcement sources in Maine’s more populated areas have told the Maine Wire about allegations of abuse, neglect, and even one instance of alleged sexual assault occurring at group homes. This outlet is aware of at least two suspicious fatalities that have occurred at MaineCare Section 21 facilities.
In response to tips from concerned family members and neighbors, the Maine Wire visited a MaineCare-funded group home on Friday to interview a resident about his living and health care situation, and we were shocked to find the disabled adult living in unsanitary conditions, in an unfurnished house, and with apparent caretakers who did not demonstrate proficiency with the English language.
The Maine Wire’s Jon Fetherston was there to document his investigation into a group home that is managed by Lighthouse Health Services, LLC, a Lewiston-based company registered to Lony Muguisha. What we found was shocking and disturbing.
Lighthouse’s website states: “At Lighthouse, caring is our calling, our motto describes well what we are calling for. We are dedicated to being that light that brings hope into people’s lives.” The Maine Wire has attempted to contact Lighthouse numerous times, since Friday and they do not have a “voicemail set up.”
According to corporate records, Lighthouse was formed in June 2022, has a head office address at 158 Court St. in Auburn, and a mailing address at 22 Sargent Ave. in Lewiston.
The Maine Wire has also reached out to Maine Department of Health and Human Services for a comment on the situation.
