The $2 Billion Rehab Scam

In America, private organizations have been picking up intoxicated people from off the street, under the guise of helping them get sober. But in reality, they're kidnapping people, plying them with more drugs and alcohol, and keeping them captive- all for some of that sweet, sweet taxpayer money. This is how from 2021 to 2023, $2 billion was stolen from the American taxpayer in just one state, in one of the biggest Medicaid fraud schemes in the history of Arizona, involving hundreds of fraudulent drug and alcohol rehab facilities. So, what is the sober living scandal in Arizona? How did this happen, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again?
Addiction Treatment Resources:
findtreatment.gov/
nida.nih.gov/sites/default/fi...
nida.nih.gov/research-topics
www.samhsa.gov/resource-searc...
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Leave a tip: paypal.me/GeorgRockallSchmidt
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Submit information to the FBI:
www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-y...
Fox 10 Phoenix article series:
www.fox10phoenix.com/tag/seri...
Fox 10 Phoenix video series:
• Preying on a People
Additional Sources:
www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/us...
www.washingtonpost.com/health...
www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press...
www.pbs.org/newshour/health/f...
www.npr.org/2023/08/31/119685...
www.azahcccs.gov/Fraud/Downlo...
nativenewsonline.net/health/a...
www.fox10phoenix.com/news/unl...
stateofreform.com/news/2023/0...
www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/me...
www.fox10phoenix.com/news/3-i...
www.12news.com/article/news/l...
www.aspenpublicradio.org/2023...
www.12news.com/article/news/i...
www.12news.com/article/news/l...
www.recoveryanswers.org/resou...
www.hazeldenbettyford.org/rec...
behavehealth.com/blog/2022/2/...

[@RevaStewart]

Thank you !! This Is Reva Stewart with Stolen People Stolen Benefits..Thank you for this and bringing it to light , We appreciate Justin Lum from fox10 phoenix for his reporting! Unfortunately the issue is still going on and more recruiting since the moratorium ending in June..frustrating but please keep this alive and going .. I hope we get accountability for the lives lost and ones still missing

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

Thank *you* for all your hard work and compassion. The world needs more people like you.

[@NextToToddliness]

As an Indigenous person who is from & live in Arizona, thank you for covering this, because most folks here already forgot it happened.

[@JamesDecker7]

As someone working in Tuba City…this whole situation has been and continues to make my blood BOIL.

[@WobblesandBean]

I'm guessing those "most folks" are of the pale variety.

[@Manticorn]

Absolutely revolting and unacceptable. The way that settlers in the US treat the indigenous like trash while stealing the aesthetics and signifiers of their culture because they wish so badly that they instead had any ancient ancestral claim to the land. It really boils my blood.

[@ryanziller220]

Do not call yourself indigenous since you are native to the lands of your people. The term is derogatory.

[@MarsMellow84]

I live in AZ too, and I am so appalled and disgusted by this story! Like the white man haven't done enough damage to Native American tribes.

[@cascadianrangers728]

My ex, who OD'ed and died in my arms, told me all about this scam years and years ago after she went thru rehab in Mesa, AZ. You were so pretty and so very, very smart, Lucy. I still think about you every day.

[@conzmoleman]

Sorry for your loss. Good reminder to always keep narcan around.

[@sneedmando186]

🕯️ ❤ 😔

[@writheagainsoon]

May she rest in peace

[@somethingsomething404]

If only you had narcan or called and help arrived in time and they had narcan

[@MidBoss]

I'm so sorry. Hope you're doing well

[@user-account-not-found]

The people they pretended to treat are more likely to go to jail then the fraudsters who did this.

[@freshbornmute2752]

Almost like this is what's encouraged by everyone and for everyone.

[@lynncarrico6620]

Exactly...it's like who will believe a user or addict over a drug counselor.

[@youforget1000thingsaday]

This ain't gonna have the proper coverage because it's happening to Indigenous people. No one ever talks about our struggles so thank you for covering this.

[@Vapourwear]

I’ve been hearing about nothing, but the indigenous struggles of indigenous people for 40 fucking years…

[@Kurus-pq7xw]

The struggles your people cause themselves on the Rez?

[@pennybourban3712]

Canada probably has a version of this too.

[@Vapourwear]

@@shponglechunch that was damn near 200 years ago… GTFOver it.

[@imogenx9145]

I think they really thought that no one would notice or care, and no one did for a really long time.

[@SnakeBush]

The cycle will repeat in 15 years

[@Manticorn]

So ironic that the British guy had to be the one to bring it up. It makes me angry that he's had to be the one to make me aware, but I'm not even remotely surprised, since I already knew about the human trafficking and sex slavery of indigenous women while the police turn a blind eye.

[@chickensinthemist]

My grandmother used to run one of these in Pennsylvania, targeting Puerto Ricans. I had no idea that what she was doing wasn't genuine charity work until an exposé was published in the newspaper

[@MrSadisticLlama]

SO you've reported her or what?

[@epicfailguy2]

Bro an expose means its already out there ​@@MrSadisticLlama

[@randombrokeperson]

She already got caught if it was in the news.

[@stella-vu8vh]

tell me more

[@blackmoldinurwalls]

jesus christ. what's she doing now?

[@davidmylchreest3306]

Unbelievably, there was an episode of King Of The Hill 20 years ago about this exact sort of scam.

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

What shocks me is not the abuse of these systems, but that there seems to have been next to no genuine use of this money. There genuinely was a lot of money available for genuine treatment and it all seems to have been wasted.

[@tigerwoods373]

You'd almost be better off giving the thousand a month to the addict themselves. They'd either od or get their life together. At least nobody would be preying on people like that though

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

@@tigerwoods373 well, they would be better off getting the therapy sessions paid for, the testing, the in-facility care, all the things that there was funding for, could actually have really helped the addicts, but also the indigenous community. If there has been a tribal run, properly overseen, addiction service, it would have massively improved that community, instead it was spent on tat.

[@writheagainsoon]

In Portland, at 13, a car stopped a friend and I. "Do either of y'all have insurance?" Said the driver. "Of course they have insurance, they're kids," said the passenger. "We have a place you can stay. You'll get payed $50 every night" the driver continued. Thankfully we noped the fuck out of there. Even at that age, it made no sense to me how any business could work that way. Even after an adult tried to explain it to me. When I became an addict later in life, it took way too long to seek help. Because I was so scared of meeting the same fate as so many others. I had many fanily and friends on the res wjo were not so lucky.

[@tigerwoods373]

Probably would've kept you locked in a small room for months or years and never gotten even the 50 bucks. Human trafficking and insurance fraud, what a combo.

[@UnityAgainstJewishEvil]

This is HUGE in florida. Here in MA, they get tons of junkies to go down there to florida, where they essentially keep people addicted to keep their funding flowing. I’ve had many friends fall victim to this, who ended up getting tangled in this vicious cycle while they were already in a terrible place on their life. I first heard about this back in 2012.

[@somethingsomething404]

Yeah it started in Florida, FL shuffle

[@JamesDecker7]

@@somethingsomething404 Heh, I specifically warned people from my area to avoid the FL shuffle (they took a lot of people from Virginia when I was in training there) when they can’t get into local services.

[@hayorge27]

​@JamesDecker7 going on in FL 2001 when I was sent to Boca Raton

[@longlivebeans]

Ah yes the ol’ Florida shuffle

[@pennybourban3712]

These are the true "welfare queens" the people running this scam. One became a senator in Florida after a Medicare scam.

[@rosecity_chris]

Ive been yelling about this for years. The rehabilitation industry is super predatory. I was court mandated to go to an outpatient treatment when i got a dui a decade ago. Found out they were scamming my insurance by making up all kinds of fake charges and UAs i never took. If you dont have insurance and cant pay insane prices they kick you out. Which means jail or back to an addiction for most.

[@Nothingseen]

I got into consistent fights with people around the addiction treatment sphere cause of this. We're in a transition period of how to treat addiction, but people aren't fully ready to admit that the best way to deal with it isn't guys talking to you about Jesus. So a place where people with barely any credentials that scams the fuck out of everyone and whose 'treatment' is mostly addicts talking to each other settles right into the system, instead of being an aberration that people notice immediately. An actual professional and medical approach to addiction would stamp out this nonsense. But so many people who go into addiction treatment are products of these systems, and since they've been treated by shedding their previous identities to gain a new one, attacking the system that did that is now attacking them at their core.

[@pjf674]

Even w/o the ability to charge insurance companies, a lot of sober/recovery houses are extremely sketchy. It allows landlords and property managers to cram people into houses and collect weekly rent from family members or charities without any of the usual protections granted to tenants. No leases, no rent courts and the ability to kick people out for any reason. In my area, these places aren't considered healthcare providers or even landlords so there is no oversight.

[@Planag7]

There was a local one that just got shut down a few weeks ago... had over 30 people in like a four-bedroom house!!!

[@pjf674]

@@Planag7 Assuming they got at least $150/week/person, its waaaay more lucrative than if they rented that same place legitimately. If you couldn't tell, I have first hand experience on this. These places just prey on people.

[@BuckeyeStormsProductions]

There was a place near us who had the, "residents," work on the house as part of their treatment, basically remodeling the place. Once the place was all fixed up, it was sold by the owner for a profit. The guy then moved the operation to another rundown house, and started the cycle again. Fortunately the guy was eventually arrested for human trafficking, and forced labor charges.

[@djquinn11]

Yes same in the Detroit area

[@juliana.x0x0]

In California, I was in one where we had sometimes 6 women per 3 bedroom, dilapidated house (not including their children) paying $500 a month. Sometimes there would be up to 12 kids in the house sleeping on disgusting dirty stained carpets. So gross.

[@Puiz4Life]

This is sick...

[@jarg8]

This is capitalism. Find a scam and profit quick. Begs for loopholes to be exploited by people who don't care

[@tetsuo964]

is this sick🔥💯? or sick🤢🤮?

[@nolanduarte]

Sic

[@SanS33]

I'm in the middle of getting sober and just in the past 6 months I've had 4 doctors tell me that they'll tell me what to say to my insurance to get them to pay for "a great treatment center" while I'm already in one and am just came to them looking for a primary care provider...

[@SuppressedOfficial]

Plot twist: fraud is the entire point of programs like this.

[@dab88]

yeah you don't start a program with such loose regulation without knowing exactly what's going to happen. It's almost as if somebody has something against native americans...

[@SuppressedOfficial]

​@@dab88To be clear, I mean all of these welfare programs. They are all meant to cause harm, not to help anything. Even basic medicaid has been closing the doors of local hospitals in the united states for decades by requiring hospitals to accept patients and then refusing to pay the cost of a visit. The reason our government does things like this has nothing to do with disliking indians and everything to do with HATING US ALL. These programs are meant to put money in the pockets of the right people by stealing it from everyone else.

[@DemstarAus]

​@@dab88right! "We had this incredible program available but it still failed. If this can't help them, they don't want to be helped."

[@DoloRoboto]

And addicts @@dab88

[@dcgregorya5434]

​@dab88 greed is a more powerful motivator than hate. The people who make these programs have their buddies exploit them, I'd bet.

[@TerminallyChill85]

I worked in program evaluation for a nonprofit. We were helping homeless veterans get jobs. I read over the documents and they estimated several thousand eligible vets, basically the entire homeless vet population. In reality, only a tiny fraction could make it through the program. This was quite predictable as obviously many had disabilities that prevented them from working, or simply didn't want a job, or needed treatment we couldn't realistically provide. In the end, maybe 10% could become employed, and those that did were so motivated, they didn't need our help. Yet, we received funding as if the entire population could be served. There was no discussion in the proposal about how many vets could be realistically employed. We ended up with such ridiculous targets they tried to get office staff to work the street for clients. They ran through an entire team in a year. In the end, I think it was all intended. They knew they would get the funding for a few years, no matter how poorly the program performed. The design document was so obviously flawed, it's amazing no one in the government questioned it before pouring hundreds of thousands into the project.

[@stellviahohenheim]

shut up, you're one of them

[@HeatherHolt]

It always amazes me how the govt can be so willing to shell out money to ridiculous things on one hand, yet make such a big deal about ever giving people breaks on the other hand - healthcare, student loans, taxes in general, childcare, food stamps… VA healthcare… small business assistance. Housing assistance. Mortgage assistance.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

​@@HeatherHoltThe money moves around in a circle. Nonprofits are allowed to be political donors, it's easy to do the math from there

[@mobilemarshall]

politics doesn't care about nuance

[@chilloften]

Because it’s their buddies or extended family running it. Just like the construction jobs.

[@Games_and_Music]

This is exactly what the Salvation Army is doing in my town, they house addicted people, but their building is in the town's centre, so there's a lot of people with money around that want to go shopping etc. They kick the addicts out in the morning and take them back in at dusk, so they'll roam around during the day. They beg every day, and apparently it helps, because otherwise they'd be gone by now. While the Salvation Army cashes in on the subsidies that come from the government or families. I have been saying this for a while, but it is good to see that you can actually show how it is done. It's a heartless scam, while pretending to be helping them. This week, a colleague of mine got the bad news that one of his old friends, that was housed in redecorated office buildings, now owned by the Salvation Army, was found dead on his bed by his roommate. And because that person did not have insurance to pay for his funeral, it's just going to be done cheaply and almost anonymously (almost, because this person did actually have friends and family), and the home will be free for the next patient. For them it must be a well practiced routine by now, it's just morbid and evil.

[@JamesDecker7]

As someone living/working on the Navajo Nation this situation has been making my blood boil since around 2021 when we started noticing this stuff from patient reports and as mentioned, Dash. We didn’t WANT to believe it at first. And now it is super hard to get the people who DO need treatment into treatment. FML. 5:59 Shout out for my TC people! 14:58 Dash! This man deserves so much love for looking into this!

[@EricDMMiller]

How come they are dumb enough to be victimized like this?

[@njalsand133]

@@EricDMMiller drugs and booze makes people dumbin excess

[@JamesDecker7]

@@EricDMMiller Your question is in part answered if you watched the video: they often picked up people who were already intoxicated. The reason we won’t let people make legal decisions when intoxicated is that it makes you acutely “stupid”. A second part is that these places places told people whatever they wanted to hear: things I have heard were said range from, “We’ll help you get a place in the valley and help you find a job”, (when the person actually wanted to get sober) to “We have a party house! Come hang!” Note: these people weren’t “stupid” as compared to any other people. They were specifically taken advantage of. Hell, I tend to think of myself as very smart and I’ve still been fleeced once or twice at certain times in my life.

[@effexon]

your first sentence says why this is so perfect crime business: they use "virtue signal" shield that you are oppressing poor/disadvantaged people if you try to criticize or bring misuse any way.

[@EricDMMiller]

@@JamesDecker7 I guess they should stop being wasted, fucked up, and strung out all the time.

[@jameslancefield9810]

There is a similar system in the UK called Restart. Profiting from drug rehab, special place in hell for you, there is.

[@dagfinissocool]

We have private care homes in Norway billing the state for all kinds of stuff while the residents sell Heroin from their room, meanwhile the staff is knocking on the door asking if they want dinner:) The junkies usually love it tho..

[@winterhaydn]

"We don't have a health system, we have a sickness and disability system."

[@Animei9]

You're a good man. Thank you for bringing this deplorable situation to light. It's incredible to me that the government completely ignores the fact that there's been countless cases of kidnapping. After all, what does it matter when these are marginalized people? It makes me furious. I think it's horrible that they're ripping everybody off and they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but to overlook the kidnappings is beyond unacceptable

[@MartianPink]

this guy gives good business advice. Now to just get the start up capital. Airbnb money, a liquor budget & maybe a couple vans. We only need the one but multiple vans gives the operation a more established business appearance. Oh & schedule a soul-ectomy. Need to remove the conscience to make it all possible.

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

Start now with a mermaid statue payment plan. Only 157 easy payments of $99.95.

[@effexon]

college kids like to drink though.... prime customer segment to give free drinks. some may like vans too (80s hippie van thing)

[@axollot]

It looks to pay well for even legitimate services 🤷‍♀️ 7k per person can buy a lot of food, even a chef to cook it. The soul doesn't need removal then.

[@PlayingGilly]

This is a prime subject matter for a Behind The Bastards episode. These people are soulless.

[@benjaminrichey278]

Too many people to showcase

[@dziban303]

didn't he already cover this? like three years ago?

[@Nothingseen]

@@dziban303 I'd be surprised if he didn't.

[@curiousworld7912]

As I'm sure someone has already stated; this is what happens when a society places its highest values in a transactional light. The privatization of services - never meant to be 'money makers' - has made this sort of ugly, yet highly profitable scam inevitable.

[@stellviahohenheim]

America is one huge cult

[@JohnMoseley]

Specifically, it's when the state outsources activities such as healthcare and prison services that shouldn't be run for profit to profit-seeking companies.

[@curiousworld7912]

@@JohnMoseley Exactly. I believe Thomas Paine had a few words to say on that.

[@frozenbinarystudio]

This was one of the most difficuly to get through videos I have ever watched from just how vile the injustice is

[@Craxin01]

Greed destroys everything.

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

A big government helps too.

[@Craxin01]

@@naamadossantossilva4736 It's not the size of the government, it's the inefficiency and the corruption. A government ten times as big but extremely efficient and without corruption wouldn't allow this to happen.

[@50PullUps]

Greed can create good things like new inventions. This is a case of organized criminal enterprises exploiting programs for government assistance.

[@ttthttpd]

Greed isn't the problem, lack of ethics is. Put another way, desire isn't wrong, means to achieving those desires are wrong. In this scam they are preying upon desperate and discarded people as a means to parasitize off of government funds. All for easy quick money. A honest salary man who invests wisely for decades can also be deemed "greedy" for spending his accumulated wealth as he sees fit. But only a fool or an absolute parasite would condemn him.

[@Craxin01]

@@50PullUps Wrong. Innovation creates new inventions, greed attempts to strangle innovation to maintain power and a source of revenue. Ever wonder why we're STILL using petroleum and haven't graduated to something else? Greed, strangling innovation.

[@EpsilonsReviews]

I have to say that The Salvation Army, nearly every shelter with, “addictions programs,” charge insurance to the thousands and have their captive residents paid pennies for “structure building chores.” All while letting “lucky individuals,” receive food, shelter, and sometimes basic decency. Perhaps if that money, or those resources, went to housing these people, we’d be spending a lot less and maybe actually helping people!

[@stuff4826]

how would housing heal a junkie.

[@deedeeramone34]

I went through the Salvation Army program and it was free for everyone who was low income.

[@ImSimplyAHuman]

@@deedeeramone34… because it was funded by the state? 🥸

[@juliana.x0x0]

@@stuff4826well when you're struggling to stay warm and get basic needs met, getting sober is not high up on your priority list. Realistically, people need safety and stability before they decide to give up the only thing that gives them a sense of comfort in their chaotic lives. This has been well documented in studies, people do much better with their addiction and mental health issues when they have their needs met. People turn to drugs for a reason, it's a way to ease pain in the short term. There has to be a benefit to using drugs (however short sighted that benefit might be), otherwise it wouldn't be such a continuous problem in society.

[@cassandratq9301]

"How would housing heal a junkie?" It might not, but this fraud depends on the availability of unhoused people to kidnap + exploit. If those people were not homeless, they wouldn't be tricked into being aducted and abused. (And, once housed, could seek out legitimate help for themselves from places where the funds are going to the intended use.)

[@Olivia-pj6fw]

First I'd like to say I am not an indigenous person, so I really cannot speak on that aspect of this. I had no idea indigenous people were targeted specifically for scams like this and it's good that it's being talked about here. I would like to speak on the overall sketchiness of the "addictions recovery system in America." When I was 19 years old I lived in New Hampshire, where I was suffering from addiction to drugs. I told my parents I needed help, they called one of those online 1-800 numbers, and a few days later I had a plane ticket to Las Vegas, Nevada, where I was to go to rehab. According to my parents the person who had helped them on the phone said this rehab in Las Vegas was the only place that could take me on such short notice. The rehab wasn't awful, they just didn't really have their s*** together. When I got there I learned that they had just very recently opened. A huge majority of the people there were from the East Coast, mainly Massachusetts and New Jersey. I completed my 30-day program at the rehab, the rehab itself did not offer any sort of way for me to get back to New Hampshire, but did offer me a super sketchy list of different "sober livings" in Las Vegas. A friend I had met in rehab was going to a certain place and he said it wasn't that bad. I signed some sort of contract or agreement with the sober living owner stating that as soon as I had a job I would take care of all back rent and everything like that. It was $650 a month for a room that I had to share with another girl. When I arrived at this sober living I realized that things were pretty ridiculous lol. It was a co-ed sober living which was something I had never seen before. There was no real separation of the genders, other than for sleeping arrangements. The first thing I was supposed to do was get all possible state benefits from Las Vegas that I could potentially apply for. Any of these benefits that could be given to the sober living, including my food stamp card, I had to give to the house owner. Everybody who is staying at the house was there for seemingly a bunch of very different reasons. There was a handful of men who were there coming straight from prison. A handful of us came from the same rehab. A handful of people there were just regular people who literally just needed a place to live and somehow got suckered into moving into that sober living. I had a very hard time getting a job in Las Vegas at this time. My house manager and my sober living owner both suggested I get into sex work or stripping to pay for my rent. I refused, and the management was very upset with me. I eventually found a call- center job and work at a local Target. Like any other sober living that is co-ed there was tons of problems involving the guys and girls hooking up and having relationships. Including me. I fell in love with one of the guys in the sober living home. We were allowed to move into a small bedroom together where we shared a small bed. We had to pay $1,300 to share that bed in that tiny room lol 😂 Eventually I learned that both my house manager and my sober living house owner were both having intimate relationships with different people in the house. I also found out that the house owner was using m*th. Several days a week I worked for my sober living house owner, I worked in an office setting where I was asked to falsified important documents and change other people's time cards for reduced rent. Anyway I could go on all day about all of the crazy stuff that happened in that house. Eventually my boyfriend and I saved up and moved back to New Hampshire... That wasn't the end of my drug using story but I am sober now and have been for 8 years.

[@juliana.x0x0]

Congratulations on having that much time clean! I have firsthand experience and knowledge on some of the same issues in the rehab I went to here in California. More on the books than most, but still...charging very poor people a LOT of money, and the owners are very well off from this scheme, coming to work with very fancy cars and clothing and perfume while these struggling moms hand over all their benefits for a place to stay. The resources and information they give you while you're there is kinda okay, but you can get the same (if not better) information on addiction here on KZbin. I think the best thing that came from that center was the community of people dealing with the same issues that you are, right there with you. They don't actually care about the people coming through...they have some women that come through there twice, 3x a year, always being welcomed back with big smiles and hugs, while the owners excitedly run their insurance through again. There's no long term support, success only comes to people who are internally motivated to get clean. There were girls who came back from visits nodding off, and staff looked the other way. The whole system is slimy by design.

[@juliana.x0x0]

I have about 6 years clean off of "math", and it was mostly because of my dedication to being a decent parent and turning things around for my kid and eventually, for myself.

[@andzzz2]

What a shocking story and well told as ever. I have to say, despite this being a particularly egregious example, there's something of this in a lot of psychiatriac and addiction care. That people in desparate straits are being commoditfied for others to make money off. Money that would be life changing for the people supposedly being helped largely passes them by.

[@chrise8275]

(03/30/2024) Honestly, I bet that some of the people that were behind these rehab scams are/were also affiliated with people connected to drugs.

[@pablomoreno1206]

Hey Georg, great video. A friend of mine rented his house out after moving only to find one of these operations had been set up in his old home. This is in a small border town in Arizona. I didn't know it was such a big issue!

[@theunknowncorps22]

"In America..." Where else?

[@Pikachu2Ash]

Scams don't just exist in the USA, there are gullible people everywhere 😅

[@droopy_eyes]

@@Pikachu2Ash Yeah, but state/nation funded slave dens to exploit individuals are either a case for communist nations or USA.

[@Serahpin]

Plenty of The Guardian articles about similar things happening in Britain. Scams don't only happen in America.

[@tree_eats]

@@Pikachu2Ash Nice deflection but this is a bit more than just "scams", mate.

[@Pikachu2Ash]

@tree_eats It has scam in the title weirdo. I'm not trying to deflect anything.

[@meaghanvanloenen8458]

Excellent coverage of a scam as always, Georg. I especially loved that you made an effort to source and include legitimate government resources for the end of the video and that you offered genuine and non-condescending words of support for those who need to hear them.

[@ChrisDied]

The abstract thought of money really fucked up life for intelligent life on this planet...

[@brokendeck08]

You better be on drugs or alcohol,because that cringe way of wording "money bad has the potential to kill more people than fentanyl

[@stuff4826]

they used to do this with children and adoption programs. was a scandal in the 90s in the us but it still goes on in other countries. in sweden yelling at your kid is grounds for a lose of custody. in poland an elderly couple had 20 sick kids they nabbed out of hospices.

[@MightyMurloc]

As someone who gratefully got a stay at a private psychiatric house/rehab in the UK in my youth (Designated by patients as "Sad" and "Bad"). I'm absolutely disgusted by this scam. All scams are disgusting, sure. But It's the bottom of the bottom of the barrel here.

[@millana100]

It's horrible because there are a lot of people who DO want to go to a rehab/recovery house program. There is not need for kidnapping. But when you're greedy there is never enough money.

[@SecondTake123]

And this makes people question legitimate organizations that want to help people.

[@azuredystopia3751]

This is the most shocked i've been in a long time. It's a cliché to say I'm sickened but no superlative can adequately describe how nauseous this makes me feel. It's heartbreaking and rage inducing. They treat human beings like actual sentient trash. Let justice be served for once, jfc.

[@EricDMMiller]

They are trash people. Didn't you hear how communities where these people were taken from had their crime rates drop?

[@PogieJoe]

Thanks for the excellent subtitles. What a chilling phenomenon. I appreciate you shedding light on it.

[@Epiclyfail]

Ah that explains why the rehab centers failed my family member in Kentucky.

[@kevinclark8356]

This is monstrous. I hope these scumbags get brought to justice.

[@kev-larscuba2323]

Their scam wouldn’t work without the justice system. So I wouldn’t lean on that to correct the situation.

[@briancrawford8751]

@@kev-larscuba2323 Calling the US Dept. of Health and Human Resources Medicaid Fraud Hotline definitely works for things like charging for services that haven't been provided or charging non-existent patients or people who are no longer patients. You don't seem to know what does work, so I'm telling you about something that will.

[@stellviahohenheim]

America is really a cursed land

[@ComradeCatpurrnicus]

Incredibly horrific... the amount of horror generated by profit seekers when it comes to our basic necessities, our healthcare, everything... this is prime example of how horrible for-profit systems are.

[@ringsystemmusic]

Way more based than I usually hear from someone with an apu profile pic

[@PathfinderWOTRfan]

soulless people

[@robloggia]

Oh look he's talking about my home state.....Oh...Oooh

[@Someone-qy3kv]

A few years ago. I thought I should give treatment. Another go. I called several looking for one in my state somewhat close so my family could visit. Long story short. The company lied about their location until the last moment trying to get my insurance. Then when I declined to go. For the next 2 months they called none stop trying to get me to come in. The tactics they used were absolutely brutal. Trying to gas light me. Guilt me into going. Quite literally telling me I’m worthless and a failure and too scared to get sober…. It took me recording the last call with them and threatening to get the states attorney involved before they finally stopped.

[@gonesnake2337]

Georg with the well researched and well presented case, doing good work.

[@styraxopoponax8294]

An insidious aspect of this is that US conservatives-if they actually bothered to look into the inner workings of social programs, let alone care about these victims-would be able to point to this and scream that all social programs are corrupt.

[@corncake4677]

Yeah this video is bait for people to go “rehab is BAD we need to criminalize drug users MORE because that will definitely work”

[@danielcichello4421]

Really?

[@ethanirving1313]

😂🤣 your trying

[@farrahupson]

I think it's more of an example of how conservatives claim that the government can't be relied on to do anything right, which misses the fact that it is possible to have functional government. It's interesting that the profit motive is both driving the bad behavior seen in the video, and the bad behavior that is keeping our government non functional.

[@BobExcalibur]

You remind me of the Norm Macdonald bit about the worst part about islamic terrorism is the POSSIBILITY of backlash against innocent muslims. Not the atrocity itself, not the culture of fear it causes, jus that the idea of a theoretical backlash. It is in fact your line of thinking that is used to justify left wing people not investigating welfare fraud, human trafficking through migration NGOs, and internecine abuse between Protected Demographics. "The absolute WORST part is when people notice that policies we're in favour of are capable of being corrupt, abusive and self-perpetuating, so its VITAL that we obscure and hide whenever that happens to preserve our reputation!" Sheer, revolting callous ego and misanthropy.

[@adamelliott2302]

Thankfully they got all the pesky red tape that small businesses have to put up with out of the way.

[@ImTakingYouToFlavorTown]

It's insane how something like this can be done so easily, but then certain other things require going through a bunch of crap.

[@skullsaintdead]

​@@ImTakingYouToFlavorTownSure but don't you recon that red tape is the very thing that prevents this kind of disgusting scam? As they say "regulations are written in blood".

[@omarkenoh]

This is just a degree of greed and evil I could not even concieve of.

[@A_BOMB]

Thank you so much for covering this!!! I'm an addict in recovery and have been in and out of sober living houses for years. There's no regulations at all it seems. Some are ok but a lot of them are just paychecks for the owners. I've seen them pack 6 adult men into 1 bedroom and keep people that are obviously mentally unstable and violent just long enough to get their rent check from the county. There needs to be some sort of accountability. I've personally been taken advantage of (sexually) by the owner of a house when I had a relapse. Just cash grabs for people.

[@writheagainsoon]

Yep. When I was dealing, my biggest customers were sober house owners. Knew one lady who would cop just to frame her patients. Gotta pay up or you get kicked out for relapsing. Worked really well on single moms and people desperate to save their relationships with their families. And being in recovery, the horror stories I've heard from others... you are not alone. And that's the worst part. I'm so sorry you had to endure that. And I truly hope you have found a proper support network that loves you.

[@rosebudadkins6803]

As a Lakota/Eastern Cherokee i am not surprised just appalled. This has never stopped we continue to be preyed on. Our women and children go missing at alarming rates. The Cabal is behind it all. Follow the money. Correct not supervised false imprisonment.

[@Madkalibyr]

Thank you Georg. You are an incredible creator and you dedicate your time to some really worthwhile causes, I’m grateful and will share this video to every space I can think of . ❤

[@totonow6955]

Ah KENTUCKY! Exactly. Sober living home to the left of me, SLH to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you. There is a billboard on the way to my home that says "Come Home to Recover" . Gross.

[@longlivebeans]

Being an addict in this country puts you at major risk of exploitation. You’re better off just locking yourself in a room with a bucket Trainspotting style than entering into a rehab.

[@djquinn11]

Shameful. These people are predators and criminals of the first order. Preying on the vulnerable should be punishable by life in prison.

[@francesbernard2445]

What about all those who believe that sometimes the M.A.I.D. program up here in Canada is needed to serve people for only 'legitamate' reasons too instead of offering proper social safety net daily living services to be only say helping them to build a wheelchair ramp, making the interior doors in their home wider and providing them a portable chair lift which can be operated by 2 people after they take a short course in how to do client transfers? - While during their short hospitalization in a rehabilitation medical services building it is costing our health care system just as much in funds to serve them during each week there. Like when living with their college age student adult child at home and their continuing to be healthy in contrast spouse.

[@Planag7]

My church had a variation of this that makes anyone from minor porn addiction to like hardcore drug abusers and isolated them from their family. It was all for free labor for the church selling it to other businesses around them and of course no treatment. Shut down because one of the guys who was married was forbidden to leave when there was a financial emergency and basically had to escape. Mind you he volunteered but when the state investigated it shut the whole thing down

[@blah2blah65]

Hopefully that is your "ex-church" if this is something recent!

[@paulnash9851]

My god, I am absolutely repulsed. Thanks for this video, it was very well said.

[@victorcippitelli2242]

This is sick, even in modern time when supposly they are giving attention and focus of native americans and the importance of their culture and having all that represented in movies and series, even in superhero stuff which is massive given the medium, they are still treated horribly. America never changed in how they treat natives.

[@EricDMMiller]

To be fair, they have to be pretty dumb and pathetic to fall victim to this.

[@freshbornmute2752]

It's about vulnerability. Profit motive necessarily means exploitation of the vulnerable.

[@freshbornmute2752]

''Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain.'' ''Profit motive is the incentive to earn net financial gains by undertaking any sort of business activity. That applies to companies as well as individuals, whether they’re buying, selling, or taking part in any other sort of economic endeavor.''

[@astralshore]

And to add insult to injustice, there’s probably legitimate centers that actually try to help people that are now being eyed with suspicion or even have to shut down. This is one of the most vile and pernicious schemes I’ve ever heard of. People of Arizona: even if you don’t care about the people affected, these criminals stole from you, too!

[@rucker69]

Starting from a base assumption that they don't care about the affected people is pretty trash.

[@homerco213]

Pretty solid investigative journalism here.

[@roccov1972]

Nice job putting this report together. Thanks for opening our eyes and minds.

[@franmcwhorter9654]

You're awesome thank you so much for making this

[@leeweesquee]

The US need a hard reset

[@mups4016]

Ok Mr. Schwab, whatever you say.

[@stellviahohenheim]

You know your ancestors are cultist that Europe chased away for being too crazy right?

[@jesuslovespee]

You bored up there in Davos?

[@gregtaylor9806]

Just abolish public funding for substance abuse rehabilitation of any kind. Let drunks and addicts fend for themselves. It would be more complicated than that, with some even harder swallows but it would be interesting, cheap, and make that lifestyle much less attractive

[@jill5775]

Great video thank you for the quips !!

[@OK-hl6qd]

thanks for doing this

[@lennongotti751]

Thank you for what you said at the end. Struggling and it helped me.

[@leeives9109]

A very solid video and commentary. Strong simple ending too.

[@somethingsomething404]

This started in Florida like 10 years ago, they called it the Florida shuffle.(treatment home to treatment home shuffle) I think that was targeting people’s kids with private insurance though

[@toshokanhon]

Yep I saw it on an episode of American Greed

[@ButterfieldEric]

Best video essayist on KZbin.

[@user-me8hc3bs7i]

How is this not nationwide news and headlines??

[@CrookedSkew]

Thank you. Another excellent video.

[@TroubleToby3040]

GREAT video! I do have a couple of questions: 1. Will I need my vehicle (the one for picking up "patients") to be specially certified? With special tags and such? 2. Is there any way to "cross pollinate" this endeavor with my current hustle of sex trafficking? I only have one vehicle, but I believe it would be well suited to both "businesses". Thanks in advance for your prompt reply... And God Bless!!

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

1. No, use a shopping basket if you need to. 2. Why not also take them around some houses to clean before getting to the sober living “home”?

[@TroubleToby3040]

@@GeorgRockallSchmidt 😂🤣😂😭😭😭

[@momoegoista4662]

Thanks for the upload

[@MagicPlants]

7 years 10 months clean here

[@Mr3Machine]

Great stuff as always Georg

[@corncake4677]

Do people really think criminalizing drugs more is not also a scam and horrid solo as much as this

[@marleymars2223]

Thanks for talking about this

[@PeenWienerstien]

This is what happens when you dont solve a problem but instead just throw money at it until goes away.

[@jonhelmer8591]

Good work!

[@ezbody]

These type of scams are not even new. We have had them pop up for centuries, under the guise of helping the poor, orphans, sick, indigenous, homeless, troubled.

[@thiagof414]

Thank you.

[@PlatonsArm]

So good!! Important.

[@skumsters2323]

This was a great video, thanks for sticking up for these people. love from rotterdamn man

[@AndyJackson380]

Thanks Georg, I'll give this a try.

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

I love you Georg❤

[@KizetteandTotoro]

Life is like Star Wars…always fighting evil. Excellent report. Thank you, sir.

[@greenefieldmann3014]

When you say it's not just Arizona residents, you need to emphasize that it's people who choose to live in Arizona.

[@JohnBrown-ut7ug]

The combination of angry and sad that I get from your video's is WILD.

[@colemarsh13]

Willd stuff. Thank you for covering this.

[@agnostic1247]

Kentucky… gonna admit I’ve lost a bit of respect. And glad you’re digging into this. Fraud in medicine here moves from state to state in search of easy targets. They always find one.

[@GlacialScion]

I mean, Mitch McConnell is Kentucky's. Not a lot to respect there. Lol.

[@dziban303]

why lose respect? he and his wife are raising the average IQ of the state by five, ten points

[@jthom0027]

It will never cease to amaze me the depths people will go to to get shitty handbags or shitty stupid furnishings unless it is actual work.

[@dawgwiddaglasses]

Watching later. Bumping for the algorithm.

[@171QA]

Great video.

[@brendoncahill6409]

The exploitation likely came from the top - people that facilitated the Federal money that created it. Exploitation of the vulnerable on this scale almost certainly had no regulation or monitoring, and the people that set it up knew that..

[@EggBastion]

excellent use of that Withnail & I track

[@LoafyMolasses]

great video. the b roll made me go 'huh?' tho lol

[@barbarabrooks4747]

Families of patients should serve on the boards of rehab centers to prevent fraud, negligence and abuse.

[@MiracleChips]

Hey, fellow Kentuckian here. Just when you think the addiction & medical industries can’t get any more fucked, somehow they hit a new low.

[@taranullius9221]

This is terrible and heartbreaking. I am glad you covered this.

[@taranullius9221]

Obviously this is wrong for anyone but Native Americans? Haven't they been through enough? Haven't you done enough? GDIATH.