After uncovering a billion-dollar fraud scheme in Ohio, Daily Wire reporter Luke Rosiak testified on Capitol Hill this week, expecting bipartisan concern, but Democrats didn’t offer it.
Rosiak testified before the Senate Small Business Committee on Wednesday during a hearing dominated by Republican lawmakers. The only Democrat in attendance was Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), whose presence was required as the minority ranking member.
Rosiak later quipped, “The hearing room may as well have been a learing center with the number of Democrats who showed up today,” referencing a misspelled sign outside a suspected fraudulent daycare in Minnesota.
In his opening statement, Markey argued that the Trump administration’s recent anti-fraud initiatives have disproportionately targeted blue states, completely ignoring the fact that Rosiak just uncovered $1 billion in alleged Medicaid fraud in a red state. Markey declined to question Rosiak or any of the Republican witnesses, instead focusing his remarks on criticizing President Donald Trump.
“I agree we should be doing more to prevent fraud,” said Markey. “But we should also be focusing on the Trump-sized hole in the American people’s pockets. We should address rising gas prices, electricity costs, healthcare premiums, food prices, but instead the instances of fraud that congressional Republicans and this administration choose to focus on are solely to secure political points demonizing communities of color and attacking blue states.”
Markey also chose not to comment on testimony from Faye Bernstein, a compliance specialist for the Minnesota Department of Human Services and a self-described lifelong Democrat. Bernstein testified that she began questioning members of her own party after raising fraud concerns and being “labeled a racist.”
On Thursday, Rosiak participated in an anti-fraud roundtable hosted by the Republican Study Committee.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) kicked off the meeting praising Rosiak “for doing absolutely phenomenal work, uncovering a massive fraud scheme.” He added that the most amazing part was that Rosiak did it all through publicly available data. The committee discussed increasing data transparency to allow greater public access.
Asked by The Daily Wire where the responsibility for fraud oversight should fall between Congress and investigative journalists, Gill said lawmakers should focus on using “the power of the purse” to ensure taxpayer dollars are not improperly distributed in the first place.
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) echoed that criticism, arguing that Congress is a system with warped incentives.
“We measure effectiveness too often by how much money goes out the door, as opposed to, is it going to where it was intended and is it accomplishing what it was supposed to accomplish.”
Rosiak’s investigation focused in part on Ohio’s rapidly expanding home healthcare industry.
Rosiak found that Ohio spent roughly $1 billion on home healthcare services in 2024 alone, much of it through loosely monitored Medicaid programs that allow relatives to receive taxpayer funding for providing in-home “personal services” such as cooking, cleaning, and companionship.
His investigation uncovered entire office buildings filled with Medicaid-billing home health companies, many run by individuals with little or no healthcare background, and in some cases histories of fraud, unpaid debts, or criminal convictions.
Rosiak partly blames weak certification standards for the problem, as the program requires a licensed professional to certify that a patient needs assistance around the house.
“It only takes one doctor who will say yes to churn out enough forms to bankrupt a state,” Rosiak said.
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