Rampant fraud on a New York City contract last year didn’t stop a major nonprofit from landing a slew of federal contracts to sign people up for ObamaCare.
Seedco, a New York-based community-development organization, was sued by the federal government for faking at least 1,400 of 6,500 job placements under a $22.2 million federally funded contract with the city.
Eighteen months later, the feds and Seedco are teaming up again, this time to help medical-insurance seekers maneuver through the maze that is the Affordable Health Care Act.
When ObamaCare’s open-enrollment period starts Tuesday, among the frontline agencies will be Seedco, which is partnering with dozens of agencies, such as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Food Bank for New York City and the Chinese American Planning Council, in each of the five boroughs.
The national nonprofit has also lined up federal contracts with agencies in Georgia, where it has a $2.1 million contract, and Tennessee, where it has a $1.2 million contract.
Seedco said in a statement that important changes, including a new leadership team, were made at the agency following the job-placement scandal, and that workers and managers involved in the misconduct had been fired or resigned.
“As a result of these and other operational changes, we strongly believe that Seedco has the experience, integrity and commitment to carry out this work,” the statement said.
The federal grant money is supposed to be used to train “patient navigators” to help insurance seekers.
But ObamaCare critics have warned the public about the potential for fraud, a subject Seedco knows all too well.
Seven managers at two job centers were removed.