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Thursday, August 13, 2026 ~ Volume 71 ~ Issue Number 43 ~ $1.00
Officials Look to Combat Medicaid Fraud By Matt Meduri Senator Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) has three specialties in his capacity as a New York State Senator: advocating for crime victims, railing against the MTA, and regularly discussing his grievances with New York’s Medicaid system. Murray told The Messenger last month in our “good, bad, ugly” review of this year’s State Budget that New York offers the “Cadillac” of Medicaid services that allows for virtually any services - medically necessary or not - to be covered under Medicaid, that out-of-state patients are treated, and that the State’s error rate is substantially higher than the federal government’s benchmark. Murray was joined by Senators Mario Mattera (R-St. James), Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Assemblyman Joe DeStefano (R-Medford), Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney (R), and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) in Hauppauge last Thursday to unveil a pair of bills he’ll be pitching in Albany next session. The first bill would “formally designate the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) as the official clearinghouse for Medicaid fraud tips at 1-877-87-FRAUD and establish, in statute, a standardized process for how those tips are received, evaluated, and investigated,” according to Senator Murray’s office. Continued on page 5
Senator Murray (R-East Patchogue) is the main sponsor of two bills to rein in Medicaid fraud. (Credit - Matt Meduri)
Hauppauge F.D. Whips Support in BESS Facility Fight By Matt Meduri In December 2024, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and developer Key Capture Energy approved a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Facility for 220 Rabro Drive in Hauppauge. Immediately, the proposal drew near-universal opposition that resulted in the Islip Town Board passing three back-to-back, six-month moratoria against BESS facilities to evaluate the nascent technology. In September 2025, the Board voted again for a twelve-month moratorium on any such facilities from being developed within the Town of Islip. That moratorium expires next month, but perhaps the staunchest critic of these sites, the Hauppauge Fire Department, has not relented on their campaign. Continued on page 10
The proposed site (red pin) of the BESS Facility in Hauppauge (Credit - Google Maps, Airbus Maxar Technologies 2026)
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