Minnesota will feel an “increasing vise grip of financial penalties” to help make up for taxpayer dollars lost to fraud, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service, said Jan. 6.
His agency is auditing all 14 Medicaid programs that Minnesota flagged as vulnerable to fraud; that excludes 73 other Medicaid programs Minnesota runs.
The agency also will “claw back that money” from current Medicaid payments that were to be made to Minnesota, Oz told Fox News.
“This is a major problem for the state, because they’ve got to own the fact that they have been bilking the federal taxpayer [because of] their sloppy behavior for years,” Oz said.
The Epoch Times sent a message to Gov. Tim Walz’s office seeking comment but received no immediate reply.
During a news conference earlier in the day, Walz said he would refuse to step down from the governorship amid the fraud scandals, although he announced Jan. 5 that he was abandoning his reelection bid. His current term in office expires in January 2027.
The governor also criticized President Donald Trump for clamping down on Somalis. Amid increasing concerns over Somalis being accused of defrauding government programs, the president recently halted a deportation protection that had been afforded to Somali refugees for decades and also ramped up federal scrutiny.
A large percentage of Minnesota fraud defendants charged so far are of Somali descent, federal prosecutors have said.
“Somali immigrants who are minding their own business” are facing unfair federal actions, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, Walz said. More than 2,000 federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have surged to Minnesota as fraud concerns have swelled.
In addition, the federal government has cut off payments to child care centers in Minnesota and is requiring additional verification of children being served.