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Thursday, August 13, 2026 ~ Volume 138 ~ Issue Number 39 ~ $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)
Head of the Harbor to Receive New Police Vehicles By Matt Meduri
The Village of Head of the Harbor sits in the northeastern corner of Smithtown. Quiet, decently remote, and heavily wooded, the small village is a scenic pass-through to many but about 1,400 Smithtonians call it home. However, small incorporated villages have their own particular strains. Most provide their own services which comes with an additional tax levy to their residents. Since Head of the Harbor is zoned entirely for residential, there’s a limit to just how many capital projects and improvements the Village can undergo in a given year on such a small tax base. Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R-Kings Park) pointed to this very conundrum, calling the federal funds “most welcome.” Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) paid a visit to Village Hall on Tuesday morning with a check in hand for the department to purchase two new public safety vehicles. The small village doesn’t need a massive fleet, but updating their aging fleet was a necessary move. Continued on page 10
(Left to right) Supervisor Wehrhiem, Village Police Chief Lohmann, Congressman LaLota, Mayor Utevsky, and Trustee Fischer at Head of the Harbor Village Hall (Credit - Matt Meduri)
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