House committee investigating Minnesota fraud threatens Medicaid funding

The House Energy Committee on Tuesday threatened to withhold Medicaid funding to Minnesota if the state does not meet anti-fraud requirements, as the panel launched an investigation into “unprecedented” abuse it believes is occurring in the federal welfare program.

The development marks the government’s latest effort to probe sweeping multibillion-dollar fraud schemes that have been ongoing in the state since “potentially” 2013, according to the committee.  Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) is requesting records from Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and the Temporary Commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Human Services, Shireen Gandhi, to aid the committee’s investigation into fraud. Members have said that the abuse occurred through over-billing, false records, identity theft, and phantom claims in Medicaid social service and health programs for the elderly, disabled, addicted, and