Saint Paul, Minnesota — During a hearing Monday morning, the House Committee on Fraud Prevention focused on Medicaid theft, with testimony from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and discussion of two additional anti-fraud bills.
The committee, chaired by Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), was established this year and is the only House committee that Republicans control outright under the chamber’s power-sharing arrangement.
Fraud against public agencies has long been a problem in Minnesota state government, and KARE 11 Investigates has reported on numerous allegations, particularly those involving Medicaid fraud, in recent years.
“Especially in the Medicaid space,” says Robbins, “it seems to be enormous.”
On Monday, Attorney General Keith Ellison gave a brief testimony before handing over the microphone to Nick Wanka, the head of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
According to Ellison and Wanka, the unit, which is funded by federal and state dollars, has recovered $53 million in funds over the last five years.
“I’m happy to be here today, to talk to you all about what we in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit do,” said Wanka, “to hold people accountable who steal those funds — that should be going to care for people who need it.”
With less than two weeks left in the state legislative session, Wanka urged lawmakers to strengthen penalties for those who steal public funds and to support increased staffing in his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Both of these proposals were part of Gov. Walz’s anti-fraud legislative package, which was included in a House State and Local Government spending bill that passed last week. The Senate version also provided increased funding for the AG’s office.
“Based on our state Medicaid budget, our size is supposed to be 41 [employees],” Wanka told the crowd. “But it isn’t. It is still at 32. And it hasn’t increased like our state’s Medicaid budget has in the last five years.”
According to a spokesperson for Governor Walz, the majority of his proposed bills are moving forward in at least one chamber, ahead of the May 19 budget deadline.
This includes a bill making kickbacks illegal at the state level, which was one of two bills debated Monday in the House Fraud Committee.
Chair Robbins said she was pleased to see a portion of the kickback proposal in the Human Services spending bill that passed the House on Monday, but she would like to see a stronger version that includes provisions for state grant programs as well.
The second bill being considered by the committee on Monday would increase oversight of state grants through the Department of Administration, including improved education for state employees involved in grant management.
“We need to tighten up the front end of agency oversight, by having site visits,” Robbins suggested, “so we catch this earlier.”
However, Robbins believes the bill will be more feasible next session. Representative Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul) agreed.
“There are other things, I think especially from the governor’s package, that are moving in bills this session,” Pinto commented, “and building, I should say, on the work that all of us have done over the last number of sessions.”