J. David McSwane is a reporter in ProPublica’s Washington, D.C., office. Previously, he was an investigative reporter for the Dallas Morning News, where his reporting on the state’s outsourced Medicaid system, which benefited companies that systematically deny care to sick children and disabled adults, spurred multiple legislative reforms. Before that he wrote for the Austin American-Statesman and a small Florida newspaper. McSwane’s reporting has spurred new laws and state and federal criminal investigations, forced belt-tightening lawmakers to invest in social programs and won some trinkets along the way, including Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize, a Scripps Howard award, an IRE award and the Peabody. He’s a four-time Livingston Award finalist.
Hailed as a savior upon his arrival in Helena, Dr. Thomas C. Weiner became a favorite of patients and his hospital’s highest earner. As the myth surrounding the high-profile oncologist grew, so did the trail of patient harm and suspicious deaths.
Beers family members built a “conglomerate” by selling a Christian alternative to traditional health insurance. They’re now scrambling for cash, even though they received millions in PPP loans that were later forgiven.
Capitalizing on the pressure to pass the Affordable Care Act, a conservative lobbyist created an exception for faith-based health coverage, opening the door for “bad actors.”
Despite a history of fraud, one family has thrived in the regulatory no man’s land of health care sharing ministries, where insurance commissioners can’t investigate, federal agencies turn a blind eye and prosecutors reach paltry settlements.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, legitimate importers were scammed out of millions trying to supply American hospitals and businesses with vital protective equipment.
House Democrats investigating the COVID-19 response say Trump adviser Peter Navarro pressured agencies to award deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The VA and FEMA agreed to pay a first-time vendor in a desperate search for protective equipment. Now Robert Stewart admits he defrauded three federal agencies and lied about being in the Marine Corps.
Brian David Sicknick, 42, died of injuries sustained while trying to protect the Capitol. Family members say they don’t want his death politicized. But they do want to understand what happened.
Almost a year into the pandemic, supply shortages remain so severe that nurse Kristen Cline reuses her N95 for several shifts while her hospital buckles, patients suffer and folks nearby socialize maskless as if the pandemic were already over.
Trump’s FDA authorized emergency use of plasma therapy for COVID-19, despite a lack of proof that it saves lives. Staff at CSL Plasma, an industry leader, raised alarms about faulty masks as donors flooded in, but the FDA and OSHA were slow to act.
Contracts, emails and spreadsheets that Juanita and Dawn Ramos shared with ProPublica detail how domestic and foreign investors, many with marijuana industry ties, seized upon the nation’s public health disaster.
The federal government is essentially providing seed money to PPE startups, including some run by people accused of fraud. Mask brokers describe a simple blueprint for buying masks from China to get rich.
Court records show the federal government gave $20 million in contracts to a company partly controlled by a man with a history of shady business practices.
The faulty lab equipment sold by a company whose owner has faced fraud allegations is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
Using TaskRabbit and Venmo, a Silicon Valley investor and his business partner had workers repackage non-medical KN95 masks so he could sell them to Texas emergency workers.
The plastic tubes supplied for coronavirus testing by Fillakit, a first-time federal contractor with a sketchy owner, don’t even fit the racks used to analyze samples. And they may be contaminated anyway.
The federal government and states have fueled an unregulated, chaotic market for masks ruled by oddballs, ganjapreneurs and a shadowy network of investors.
The Trump administration has promised at least $1.8 billion to 335 first-time contractors, often without competitive bidding or thorough vetting of their backgrounds.
TSA officials stockpiled a huge shipment of N95 masks they knew they didn’t need even after two agency officials asked to donate them. Airport traffic fell 95 percent, and the masks have sat unused as hospitals searched desperately for them.
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