A dozen years ago, Texas health care administrators hired a company to help determine when taxpayers should cover the cost of dental care for the state’s poorer residents, particularly children.

The company, later acquired by the giant corporation Xerox, deployed a team of medical specialists to review the tens of thousands of requests for dental and orthodontic care that flowed in every year. After evaluating each record, including X-rays and molds of the patient’s mouth, the experts rendered a professional opinion as to whether a procedure was medically necessary, the standard to earn Medicaid coverage. The system ensured that public money was responsibly spent.

That’s how it was supposed to work, anyway. What happened instead was a case of epic mismanagement that threatens to leave Texas taxpayers on the hook for more than $130 million.

To hear from the untrained workers who approved hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded dental work, and from the state regulators who failed to raise red flags despite numerous opportunities to do so, visit MyStatesman.com