Friends and neighbors,
Recently we learned about yet another round of fraud in Minnesota. In this scam, Faribault residents needing medical appointments like chiropractors, acupuncturists, physical therapists, dermatologists and dentists were recruited and steered to clinics in the Twin Cities. These services were either never provided or only minimally offered. In many cases, residents’ identities were stolen and used without their knowledge to bill Medicaid for trips and services that never occurred.
Hundreds of residents were targeted, and the cost to taxpayers has reached into the millions. The fraudsters used this money to line their pockets at the expense of taxpayers.
I wish I could say it is shocking, but given the Walz administration’s track record, it really isn’t. But it is heartbreaking and infuriating that so many of our vulnerable neighbors were exploited in this way.
Minnesota has seen an alarming amount of fraud in recent years, whether it’s this Medicaid scheme, the Feeding Our Future case, or numerous others.
We must strengthen oversight and verification processes to ensure that fraud doesn’t occur in the first place. That means the Walz administration must be much more diligent in verifying services and billing claims before handing over taxpayer dollars.
This kind of fraud undermines the trust we place in our government, and it diverts critical resources away from those who truly need them. We owe it to you, the taxpayer, to protect our public programs from being abused.
Contact me:
If you have any questions about any of these issues or any other issue the legislature is working on, please don’t hesitate to contact me any time. My email is Sen.Rich.Draheim@Senate.mn, and my phone number is 651-296-5558.
And please follow me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRichDraheim/
It is a privilege to serve you.