Video: "Ted Ceanneidigh" (Pronounced 'Ted Kennedy') Applies For Medicaid Despite Proof Of Steady Income

If anything, James O'Keefe and company have proved how feckless many government employees really are.

This is the sixth video they have done at various locations throughout the country and the results have been pretty much the same. Medicaid employees willing to help the applicant to skirt the law in order to apply (Other videos at the link).

In the latest video, an undercover reporter attempts to apply for benefits Medicaid offices in Biddeford and Portland, Maine.

The reporter identifies himself as “Ted Ceanneidigh” (Ted Kennedy) and says his family has a pharmaceutical and fishing business and he talks about his Corvette. He also says that his assets are in cash and precious metals. Precious metals, he says, are less traceable. The Medicaid case worker coaches him by saying, “If you can’t prove income, you don’t have income.” She also says “Don’t say anything about your Corvette.”

At this point, it's should be obvious this is the standard operating procedure for the people working at these offices. Their job is tied into-- basically-- giving away someone else's money.

If they deny an applicant and then receives a complaint from that applicant, then the employee needs to justify the denial. It's easier to just approve the applicant and go on with your hassle free day. Applicants approved, no problems and their job is done.

I think I internalized part of that from Ace's earlier post about these O'Keefe's video stings but it makes sense in the context of how a bureaucracy like Medicaid works. Trying to give credit for where credit is due.

As Peter Gibbons tells the Bobs from the movie Office Space, "That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired."



There's an abbreviated version at the start of the video followed by the entire, unedited version of the investigation.