The narrative around “all that fraud” that has emerged in the last few months from findings of improper payments from Medicaid to health and human services programs in Minnesota would have you believe that our state is uniquely implicated in a massive amount of fraud compared to other states in the U.S. and has failed to recognize or act.
Articles appearing in the StarTribune earlier in 2026, along with wildly exaggerated accusations by Donald Trump and, his administration, members of the Minnesota GOP, and certain bad faith media and social media outlets, about the amounts of fraudulent overpayments from Medicaid to health and human services programs in Minnesota suggests a need to examine the facts.
All of us in the health care system financing reform movement agree that publicly funded and administered programs should be administered efficiently and effectively and that public dollars should go to actual services for program beneficiaries. Accusations and findings of Medicaid fraud weaken the public’s confidence in government to administer human services programs when the opposite is true. Outsourcing public programs to the private/non-profit sectors introduces multiple opportunities for malfeasance and mismanagement of these programs.
This analysis of the StarTribune articles by Politics Chicks provides ” the rest of the story.” Failure to include context with decisions going back several years, to outline program controls removed and who in the legislature removed them, and to allow the implication that Minnesota state government somehow ignored the problem, have all contributed to allowing the current narrative on fraud in public programs in Minnesota to emerge and persist. It also begs the question about outsourcing government functions to for-profit and not-for-profit entities. See this article by Eric Bernstein in the Minnesota Reformer, July 1, 2024, “Privatizing Government is a Win for Greedy Middlemen, Fraudsters.”
What’s the real story?
The fraud is real–there is no dispute. Fraud is theft and should not be tolerated in any sector of our system, whether public or private.It is wrong. It robs both the taxpayers and the people who need those services. However, we should use facts when we discuss the issue of fraud, and we should design programs that expend public funds with appropriate controls and oversight, and then enforce them. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is prosecuting fraud, getting convictions, putting perpetrators in jail, and working on recovering those fraudulent overpayments.
What have we learned about Medicaid fraud in Minnesota in the last few months?
- the majority of fraudulent charges to Medicaid involved four health and human services programs in Minnesota
- the amount of fraud charged in Minnesota is less than 0.1% of Medicaid spending in our state
- Minnesota ranked near the bottom (46th) in the nation on the Cato Institute ranking on Public Corruption by state
- Attorney General Ellison is running one of the most effective anti-fraud programs in the country
We all have a stake in good government and in properly run publicly funded health and human services programs. It is not in anyone’s best interest to allow false and misleading narratives to dominate the conversation or to influence decisions about the best ways to use taxpayer dollars to serve the public good. Our caregivers and those who need their services deserve better. The Patient Centered Care/Direct Payment to Providers bill (SF 3612/HF 3476) includes specific anti-fraud legislation to prevent misuse of public funds in health and human services programs.
Anne Jones RN, Vice-Chair, Health Care for All Minnesota (HCA-MN)