President Trump’s team is cracking down on waste, but in Ohio the damage from years of unchecked “compassion” is already massive. Bhutanese refugees, resettled in droves in the Columbus area, have turned home health care into a cash machine. Companies tied to this community have sucked down hundreds of millions in Medicaid payments for services that often amount to little more than family members getting paid to hang out with relatives. This isn’t isolated fraud. It’s a systemic racket enabled by loose rules, family-based billing loopholes, and a program that prioritizes volume over actual care. Americans are footing the bill while flashy lifestyles pop up overseas.
How the Bhutanese Network Built an Empire
Ohio welcomed a large Bhutanese-Nepali refugee population, with Columbus becoming home to one of the biggest concentrations in the country. Many arrived from camps after displacement from Bhutan. Instead of integrating into the workforce like promised, a significant slice figured out the home health waiver system fast. They set up dozens—hundreds—of companies billing for “personal care” and “companionship” services that keep people out of nursing homes.
One analysis showed people with the common Bhutanese surname Adhikari alone pulling in over $350 million from Ohio Medicaid and related programs for home health and adult day care operations. Specific outfits like Centerlight Home Care, run by the Adhikari family, have collected nearly $17 million in recent years despite minimal online presence. Other family-linked firms hit a quarter billion combined. In one cluster, just seven buildings in Columbus housed 288 Medicaid-registered companies that billed over $250 million from 2018 through 2024. Many operated out of near-empty offices with little evidence of real medical infrastructure.
Bhutanese are described as greedier and more cunning than Somalis. Huge numbers have their own Medicaid firms. In Ohio alone, just people with the Bhutanese last name of Adhikari have been paid $350M – a tenth of the GDP of their country. Much is sent back there. pic.twitter.com/HRO5tpB0q0
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) June 2, 2026
The model is simple and lucrative: enroll relatives as caregivers for family members on Medicaid. Bill the state for hours of basic assistance, cooking, cleaning, or conversation. Ohio’s expanded program under previous leadership made it easy, with payments flowing for non-skilled services that don’t require serious training. Some companies faced tax liens or wage disputes, yet the checks kept coming.
Somali and Bhutanese fraudsters are committing a large portion – if not the vast majority – of home health Medicaid fraud in Ohio.
It may not be politically correct to say, but it’s true. pic.twitter.com/OhL1LCIWSc
— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) June 3, 2026
The Scale of the Take and the Flashy Payoff
Ohio now spends roughly a billion dollars a year on home health services, much of it in this gray area of personal care. The Bhutanese-linked share represents a huge chunk of that in certain zip codes. Reports highlight luxury cars gifted within families, private jets, and champagne-soaked parties back in Nepal and Bhutan—lifestyles funded directly by American taxpayers. One young operator became a social media star showing off Escalades and high-end living while his companies raked it in.
Incredibly wild in @lukerosiak‘s story.
We found a Bhutanese home health operator in Ohio named Roshan Adhikari who was making millions off Medicaid.
It’s so common in the Bhutanese community, that people with the last name ‘ADHIKARI’ in Ohio alone have been paid $350M from…
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 2, 2026
This isn’t victimless. Every dollar diverted to questionable claims means less for truly needy Americans or higher taxes on working families. The setup echoes patterns seen elsewhere with refugee and immigrant communities gaming social services, but Ohio’s concentration makes it stand out. State auditors had flagged improper payments and eligibility issues for years, estimating hundreds of millions to billions in broader waste, yet the flow continued until recent scrutiny.
Why This Happened and the Political Blind Spot
Refugee resettlement programs dumped people into the system without enough vetting for self-sufficiency. Once here, expanded Medicaid under Biden-era policies and state decisions created incentives to maximize enrollment and billing rather than verify need. Family caregiving loopholes, weak oversight on hours claimed, and minimal fraud checks turned good intentions into a self-dealing machine. Democrats and open-border advocates cheered the arrivals as humanitarian wins while ignoring the long-term costs to taxpayers.
Ohio officials are finally moving—freezing new providers, adding tracking like GPS for visits, and pushing reforms. A House task force held hearings, and the state is tightening rules on who qualifies and how services get documented. But the horse has left the barn. Hundreds of millions are already out the door, and recovering it will be tough.
What This Means Going Forward
This scandal reinforces the hard truth: unchecked immigration and refugee flows without strict assimilation and economic contribution requirements create predictable drains. America First means prioritizing citizens first—secure borders, merit-based entry, and programs that don’t turn into welfare pipelines. Ohio’s mess, like similar ones in Minnesota and elsewhere, shows the price of ignoring that.
Taxpayers deserve a full accounting and aggressive clawbacks. Real reform means ending the family self-dealing loopholes, requiring actual medical necessity, and auditing these networks thoroughly. The Bhutanese Medicaid bonanza isn’t compassion—it’s a warning. America can’t afford to import poverty and then subsidize it at this scale. Time to shut down the grift and put citizens back in line first.