PORTLAND, MAINE

Maine’s chief financial watchdog is aiming for a promotion. Matt Dunlap, a Democrat who is running against former Republican Governor Paul LePage in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, has been serving as the state auditor for almost five years. During his tenure, home-care agencies—many of which are run by Somalis—have reportedly received tens of millions of dollars from MaineCare despite the absence of staff at these agencies during listed business hours.

It’s interesting to note that Dunlap didn’t address these concerns until a significant scandal prompted action.

“Mainers can’t trust him with their tax dollars, and they won’t trust him with their vote,” is what critics are saying.

When Dunlap pursued the auditor position back in 2020, after a lengthy stint as secretary of state, he actually acknowledged that he was, to put it mildly, “utterly unqualified” for the job. If I recall correctly, Maine law allowed him a nine-month window to get the necessary auditing credentials.

Unfortunately, he didn’t pass the qualifying examination.

This failure meant he had to give up the position, but in a turn of events, he was reinstated in November 2022 by then-state Senate President Troy Jackson, after he finally passed the exam.

Now, Dunlap’s office is tasked with conducting annual audits—specifically, a federally mandated review of all state expenditures involving federal funds. This includes checking if Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services has been effective in preventing improper billing for services like Medicaid, known locally as MaineCare.

MaineCare’s disbursements to providers, which include home health care companies, are part of the federal funds that Dunlap’s office is responsible for auditing.

In September 2025, Blaze News uncovered numerous home-care offices in Portland, Westbrook, and Lewiston that were completely vacant during their posted hours. Some of these offices had Minnesota phone numbers, and attempts to call often resulted in voicemail messages or dead lines.

Many of these seemingly nonexistent companies billed the state while Dunlap was in office.

The Maine DHHS is responsible for overseeing MaineCare providers, including reviewing bills, auditing them, and recouping overpayments. Meanwhile, Dunlap’s office should be auditing the DHHS to see if they are implementing effective safeguards, and reporting any failures. Yet, while numerous questionable providers billed MaineCare for millions, Dunlap’s office evidently overlooked major issues in how claims are being scrutinized. They only spoke out in March 2026, about three months after the Gateway scandal first erupted.

Gateway Community Services, for example, collected $28.8 million from MaineCare between 2019 and 2024, which corresponds with Dunlap’s time as state auditor.

It was, rather surprisingly, state health officials—not Dunlap’s office—who identified issues with Gateway after they reviewed about 15,000 claims dating back to March 2021, revealing nearly $1.1 million in overpayments.

Maine cut off funding to Gateway in December 2025, but Dunlap didn’t flag the issues with MaineCare’s oversight until March 2026.

Federal investigators also discovered that Maine improperly allocated at least $45.6 million in payments related to autism services.

A former Gateway employee alleged, in 2025, that he witnessed the falsification of records. His whistleblower claims gained traction, making headlines nationwide that December.

Following this, the state quickly halted payments to Gateway and, in May, the DHHS confirmed “credible allegations of fraud” against the company—though this suspension isn’t a formal criminal finding, it does permit ongoing investigations.

There’s evidence solidly showcasing overbilling. State health officials had reviewed the 15,000 Gateway claims from March 2021 to December 2022, which coincided with Dunlap’s tenure, and are now looking to recover close to $1.1 million. Previous reviews revealed that the company had also been overpaid by about $660,000 from 2015 to 2018.

Gateway missed its opportunity to appeal the ruling in July 2026.

And it’s not just Gateway facing scrutiny.

Community Home Health Care in South Portland billed $47,986,855 between 2019 and 2025 before their payments were suspended earlier this year. Interestingly, this occurred months after the Maine Wire visited their office. Five agencies at 203 Anderson Street in Portland—a location shared with a Somali money-transfer service—received $13,774,554. Three more located at 640 Brighton Avenue took in over $11.6 million.

In total, that’s over $100 million paid to ten companies while Dunlap was the state’s auditor.

Golden Home Care was ordered to repay $1,676,126 following a 2024 audit, though that order was later rescinded. Luna Home Care hasn’t returned its $262,120 and has billed MaineCare another $1.69 million since then. It’s somewhat concerning that even when the state has identified overbilling, reclaiming funds has proven difficult.

Dunlap only raised issues related to MaineCare’s oversight in March, several months after Gateway’s payments were halted.

The 2025 single audit from Dunlap’s office indicated that MaineCare’s Program Integrity Unit, which should review Medicaid payments after they go out, “could not provide documentation of the methodology” used for verification. A staggering $3.2 billion was paid to roughly 10,600 Medicaid providers that year, yet the auditors were unable to assess the completeness of the unit’s oversight.

This audit signaled that the unit might not adequately monitor Medicaid services, potentially leading to noncompliance with federal regulations.

It’s telling that the report found no “Prior Year Findings,” implying that Dunlap hadn’t previously raised any concerns. This was labeled as a “significant deficiency” in MaineCare monitoring.

The same report doesn’t estimate just how much improper billing may have gone unchecked and doesn’t even mention Gateway.

The health department, which operates MaineCare, admitted in its response to the audit that Dunlap’s office hadn’t raised issues regarding how they determined which payments to audit since 2015. This acknowledgment essentially diminishes their criticism as a “newly found position.”

Clearly, the department was downplaying the audit’s findings.

Moreover, they confirmed that Dunlap’s office hadn’t raised concerns during the years Gateway was billing the state.

“Matt Dunlap’s record speaks volumes: he is an incompetent bureaucrat who should not be trusted with taxpayer dollars,” stated National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole.

As of now, Dunlap is in a tight race against LePage for the congressional seat, with the Blaze News Poll indicating a narrow 3.3-point lead for Dunlap.

Dunlap, alongside the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Attorney General Aaron Frey, did not respond to requests from Blaze News for comments.