Hochul backs big donor embroiled in $195M Medicare fraud

Gov. Kathy Hochul is standing by a contractor — tied to more than $100,000 in donations to her campaign — that federal probers say botched the Medicaid transportation program in New York City, potentially costing taxpayers as much as $195 million in paybacks to the US government.

The recent US Department of Health and Human Services inspector general report ordered the state to reimburse the federal government for at least $84.3 million in state Medicaid payments because of a lack of record keeping to justify billing for transport services for Medicaid patients during the calendar years 2018 and 2019.

Medical Answering Services was the chief contractor that served as the state Health Department’s “transportation manager” to supervise and arrange transportation services with providers — such as taxi rides and ambulette services — during the period and its contract with the state for the Big Apple region was extended through November 2023.

As The Post previously reported, the firm’s owner, Russ Maxwell and his spouse, Morgan McDole, have dropped more than $300,000 combined into the campaign coffers of Hochul, of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Hochul-controlled state Democratic Party.