Federal prosecutors in Minnesota said on Dec. 18 potential Medicaid fraud in the state could exceed $9 billion, following an initial review of high-risk programs. Fraud is so easy, they assert, that people from other parts of the country are registering as Minnesota-based providers to get in on the action.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said 14 Medicaid services now under audit have cost the state about $18 billion since 2018, with what he described as a substantial share appearing fraudulent: “I’m talking on the order of half or more,” he said, according to the Minnesota Reformer news agency.
Speaking at a Dec. 18 news conference in Minneapolis, Thompson said claims data reveal widespread red flags, including companies billing Medicaid for services never provided. He described schemes in which businesses were set up solely to collect federal funds. Investigators believe the scale of wrongdoing in Minnesota surpasses that seen in other states. “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud.”
