One newspaper columnist at a time. Rochelle Olson writes in the Star Tribune this weekend,
U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson: Fraud is stealing Minnesota’s way of life
Olson reports about her feelings on the subject,
I’ve finally been persuaded that this [fraud] is more than a pandemic-era blip. After listening to Thompson, I’m convinced we need to roust ourselves from our smugness. If there’s a special legislative session this fall, fighting fraud should join gun safety on the agenda.
Despite weeks of special session talk, none has been called, or even scheduled, as of yet. And to Olson’s point, it may require the lever of Archimedes to accomplish the smugness task. As Olson mentions, in Minnesota, it’s forever 1973, where we live the good life in a state that works.
{Note: our Summer 2023 magazine cover story.]
“No more,” she writes. Quoting Thompson,
“Our state is far and away the leader in fraud now and everyone sees it,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in a recent interview with the Editorial Board of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Olson notes,
Feeding our Future wasn’t an aberration. In late July, the state stopped payment to 50 Housing Stabilization Services providers amid allegations of fraud in the fast-growing program that uses Medicaid to find homes for disabled and older adults.
Going forward,
Next week, [Gov. Tim] Walz is expected to announce that he’s seeking a third term. Although Thompson didn’t single out Walz for blame, the governor needs to show us he’s willing to take this on full bore.
For the past four years (since January 2022) Tim Walz has refused to address fraud in Minnesota at even the most basic level, to even admit to the scope of the problem. Expect the third Walz term to be more of the same.
Back to Thompson,
Minnesota has long offered a Scandinavian model of high taxes and generous social safety net, but it’s done a poor job of minding the store even as the problem was evident, Thompson said.
“Let’s be honest, you can see it,” he said. “You see all the types of health care companies all over the place. Why are there adult day cares all over the city?
From my standpoint, there are legitimate needs for services like personal care attendants, autism clinics, adult day cares, etc. But we seem to be supplying, through taxpayer-funded programs, roughly 400 percent of the legitimate demand. I sincerely believe that my estimate is close to the mark.
But it’s never too late to being doing the right thing.