On Tuesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Minnesota Star Tribune Investigative Reporter Jeff Meitrodt said that fraud in the state “has just spiraled into this sort of giant monster that just keeps spreading from one program to another. It seems like there’s a playbook that’s been passed around out there” among fraudsters.
Co-host Nick Schifrin asked, “Federal prosecutors said earlier this month they’re investigating some $9 billion worth of fraud in more than a dozen Medicaid-funded programs in Minnesota. That is much broader, much larger than anything they’ve announced previously. So, explain, what’s new here?”
Meitrodt answered, “What’s new here is that a fraud problem that started with a COVID-era…relief program to help kids get meals when the schools were all shut down has just spiraled into this sort of giant monster that just keeps spreading from one program to another. It seems like there’s a playbook that’s been passed around out there, and dozens, if not hundreds, of criminals are figuring out how to rip off the state for — it’s certainly hundreds of millions of dollars. … $9 billion, my God, that’s a huge lift. I guess it’s possible, but there’s been a little bit of skepticism about that number, too.”
Meitrodt added that one of the daycares in Nick Shirley’s video looked like it was legitimate when the Star Tribune visited, but some others do look suspicious.
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