What to Do if a Welfare Fraud Investigator Comes to Your House
My question involves criminal law for the state of: CA
Today a welfare fraud investigator came to my house and left his card on my door. Do I have to talk to him? I receive Medi-cal insurance only for copays. I pay out of pocket monthly for health insurance. But could not afford to pay copays. This is really scaring me is there something wrong with this? Medi cal knows I have other insurance the whole time. Please help
Re: Welfare Fraud Investigator Came to My House
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Hova
My question involves criminal law for the state of: CA
Today a welfare fraud investigator came to my house and left his card on my door. Do I have to talk to him? I receive Medi-cal insurance only for copays. I pay out of pocket monthly for health insurance. But could not afford to pay copays. This is really scaring me is there something wrong with this? Medi cal knows I have other insurance the whole time. Please help
No, you do not HAVE to speak to the investigator. But, it could be for almost anything. If you receive any form of aid this could be involving that. Or, it may be that you are a potential witness in something else.
Understand that if they do have an open investigation on you, without your input they could find that you have committed some form of malfeasance and cut off some form of benefits. Only you know if you have been being dodgy with something. If you have been, then you may want to consider speaking with an attorney.
Re: Welfare Fraud Investigator Came to My House
When you signed up for your Medi-Cal, you gave them the right to do a whole lot of fact checking about you. You agreed to let them do home visits, you agreed to let them access your tax records, just basically anything that will document the information you provided about your income and number of family members, etc. Did you think they were just going to take your word for it? Income based programs sort of expect that people aren't going to be honest, and they verify a huge amount of the information you provide by cross matching with other programs electronically, as well as by asking for you to provide documentation.
Now, if you at this point refuse to cooperate with a home visit, first of all, they'll stop your benefits. Then they'll start investigating the fire out of your case and the information you formerly gave them. Why are you so spooky about having them check on you? Incidentally they do check on people who have been reported for fraud, but they also check on a certain number of their random clients every month, so just because you are being checked on does not necessarily mean they have reason to believe you are doing something wrong.
If you are being as honest as you possibly can, you have nothing to worry about. If you are not, your Medi-Cal benefits are probably gone, and you might end up needed to repay them and being fined or sanctioned. But it is very doubtful that unless you are running a big scam of some kind, you'll be charged criminally. If you ARE charged, which at this time you are NOT, (this is not even a "criminal investigation" at this point, where you have placed it on this forum) at that point, hire an attorney.