More than 100 percent of New York State's job growth over the past seven years has been in the home healthcare industry, meaning the state would have lost jobs without more home caregivers. 

Almost all of those home "caregivers" are relatives or friends. Healthcare is now the state's largest single employer. And the jobs are not generally doctors and nurses, but "caregivers." 

That isn't economic growth. It's turning an entire state into a long-term care home, one where many of the people being "cared for" don't exist, or the "caregivers" show up only on paper. 

 The SEIU is pushing to unionize the group as a lucrative source of dues to fund its socialist agenda, and the politicians have loved the growth because the "industry" has created a new political base for them, at least in the short run. In the longer run, the DSA is the real winner.

By now you know a huge fraction of these jobs are fake, but as a collective, they cost the government a lot of money because government programs fund them.

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The biggest threat to this industry is the Trump administration's fraud investigations, and New York has been caught red-handed aiding and abetting the fraud, disproving the argument that Minnesota is a special case. The fraud is rampant and national. It's not only in Blue states, of course, but it is concentrated in them. 

JUST IN: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has directed the state Department of Health to consider ending the state’s Medicaid social adult day care benefit.

The directive came on the same day that state and federal investigators carried out a crackdown on providers suspected of fraud, and on the same day that Hochul announced 16 arrests in a separate auto insurance fraud investigation.

Hochul, a Democrat, stated at an Oct. 20 press conference that she had told the department to look at “all options to eliminate continued fraud, waste and abuse.” Those options include phasing out the benefit and moving participants to other services for older New Yorkers. The department’s recommendations are due by Dec. 31.

Hochul is trying to get ahead of the scandals by posturing about cracking down on fraud, as if her administration hasn't played a key role. Politically, that's smart, because, like many blue states, there is still a large base of Republicans, and a lot of "moderate" Democrats get queasy when the fraud gets out of hand. It erodes the Democrat brand. 

New York Governor Kathy Hochul admits they do have a massive Medicaid and Home Health Care and Daycare fraud problem. They are partnering with the Federal Government to stop it

Kathy Hochul says money laundering, illegal kickbacks and improper billing are all taking place… Remember when Democrats said this wasn’t happening

“The New York State Department of Health and the Office of Medicaid Inspector General joined state and federal law enforcement agencies in a coordinated crackdown of suspected fraud in social adult daycare programs. 

— I personally went to Washington and went to CMS Administrator Oz to discuss how we can team up together to combat fraud in the Medicaid system. We're targeting providers who engaged in illegal activity ranging from money laundering to kickbacks to improper billing and other fraudulent activities”

Known fraud schemes in New York already exceed $180 million with an audit flagged hundreds of millions as “questionable”

The actual amount so far has been $285 million in “questionable payments” flagged

The fraud exposed is going to be enormous

So now Hochul is announcing that she is "considering" ending the state's Medicaid home health subsidies, which are just a fraction of the problem. The announcement is symbolic, both because "considering" is not DOING, and the Medicaid portion is relatively small compared to the size of the "industry." Hochul helped create the mess, and now she is scrambling to hide how big it is. 

It's all performative. Fraud has become a salient political issue, as Minnesota's surprising poll numbers show: Democrats are in genuine trouble, so a modified limited hangout is necessary. Admit something smaller to hide the larger problem. Look honest, but keep hiding the bigger problem. 

At best, Hochul is promising to close the barn door now that the horse has escaped, which shouldn't satisfy anyone anyway. But it will likely work, politically. Promising to clean up the mess you created is a typical Democrat strategy, and only cleaning up a tiny fraction of the mess is all she is promising. 

Like the programs themselves, Hochul's promises are a scam. A con job. And like all con jobs, they work because the marks want to be conned.