Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Inside Job: State, Federal Workers Bilked Millions in Pandemic Relief Money; 1 in 5 People Had Trouble Getting Medical Care Due to Lockdowns, and other C-Virus related stories

AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Inside job: State, federal workers bilked millions in pandemic relief money:
It seems stunning in hindsight that Massachusetts would have taken a chance on hiring Tiffany Pacheco in the first place.
Two months before her April 2020 hiring, she had walked out of a federal prison after serving time for aggravated identity theft and passing bad checks.
Undeterred by that history, Massachusetts hired Pacheco for its Department of Unemployment Assistance. She was put to work processing pandemic unemployment claims, with access to residents’ information.
Pacheco would go on to steal some of those identities and file bogus pandemic unemployment claims in their names, as well as file false claims under her own name and that of her husband, Arthur. All told, she took the government for nearly $200,000 in actual losses, according to court documents associated with her guilty plea.
Pacheco is not alone.
The pandemic spawned a tsunami of scams — likely the largest fraud in world history. Government employees stand out as particularly egregious cases. --->READ MORE HERE
1 in 5 People Had Trouble Getting Medical Care Due to Lockdowns:
What's the full toll of the pandemic lockdowns?
We'll probably never know. Beyond the economic, social and political damage, the health care costs are another question mark.
Tomeka Kimbrough-Hilson knew she had a small growth inside her uterus. She was first diagnosed with uterine fibroids back in 2006 and had been able to have the non-cancerous mass removed through outpatient laser surgery. Over the years, she'd also been able to manage her symptoms with medication and changes in her lifestyle.

But when those symptoms – a bloated belly, irregular periods, nausea – returned in 2020, Kimbrough-Hilson was unable to get an appointment with a specialist.

"March 27th came and everything got shut down," says Kimbrough-Hilson, 47, of Stone Mountain, Georgia. "I wasn't at the tier of care that needed [immediate attention], because of all the precautions that had to be taken."
--->READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:

Carnival, Royal Caribbean and more drop pre-cruise testing after CDC ended its COVID-19 program

Virginia mom blasts sons’ ‘political’ suspensions for not wearing masks

USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates

WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates

YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates

NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest

If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK here, GETTR here, and TWITTER here.


No comments: