Minnesota’s burgeoning social services fraud scandal is “disgusting,” and emblematic of a broader nationwide crisis, a former National Economic Council health policy official told Fox News Digital.

Brian Blase, president of the federal spending-focused Paragon Health Institute, said in a Friday interview that fraud has become pervasive throughout such publicly funded programs, and that a lot of the time, funds mismanaged by state officials are often federally sourced – meaning the entire nation can be hurt by one state’s scandal.

“It is disgusting,” he said when asked about the alleged Minnesota scandals. “But it is pervasive throughout government programs.”

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“Federal taxpayers that are paying for the poor management, oversight and just disruption at the state and local levels. The Medicaid program in particular, the more states spend, the more money that they get from the federal government,” he said. “It’s the number-one source of how states get money from Washington.”

Blase said three-fifths of all federal dollars to state governments come through Medicaid, leading special interests to continue to lobby for more – and states like Minnesota don’t have adequate incentives to follow the money once it gets to them.

He previously tweeted that $1 trillion in improper payments have been made in the past 10 years. 

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All “the fraud in Minnesota and similar fraud in other states almost certainly isn’t counted in those estimates,” he said. 

Medicaid growth has often come through expansion of services that aren’t directly medical treatments, he said, noting that the funds can now be spent in approved contexts on housing, food and nonemergency transportation.

Those “are ripe with waste, fraud or abuse opportunities,” he said, as federal prosecutors said in December they estimate at least half of Minnesota’s $18 billion Medicaid-funded disbursements are actually fraudulent, according to the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

ALEX BERENSON: MINNESOTA WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING: NEW YORK’S MEDICAID GRIFT IS FAR WORSE

Blase’s think tank has been delving into issues with Obamacare, which became a congressional albatross as Democrats fought the GOP majority to keep burgeoning subsidies flowing as a year-end deadline neared.

Paragon “has done a lot of work on enrollment fraud in Obamacare, called the ‘Great Obamocare Enrollment Fraud’ – and it is not specific to Minnesota. That fraud exists across the country, and the main reason is because of bad policy during the Biden administration,” he said.

Blase said Biden-era subsidy expansions made many Obamacare plans fully taxpayer-subsidized, creating incentives for brokers and insurers to maximize enrollments regardless of legitimacy.

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That, he said, has led to “unscrupulous” Obamacare brokerages and “enrollment conglomerates” cropping up with a business model essentially based on getting as many people to sign up for Obamacare so they receive the payments.

Blase recently retweeted a post citing a Nevada resident who had no idea they were signed up for an Obamacare plan by the state exchange in Carson City, partially because they didn’t have a premium or a bill.

“It just happened,” the follower said. “They automatically shopped for a plan and enrolled me into it, too.”

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Blase said the dynamic has led to a surge in Obamacare enrollees who have never actually used their health care plan, adding that $35 billion in 2024 taxpayer subsidies funded people who didn’t use services.

“Some (enrollees) are fictitious, others individuals that aren’t aware that they’re enrolled,” he said.

“The connection with Minnesota, with Obamacare, are terrible incentives that are produced from these government programs that allow people to get rich at the taxpayer expense.”

SENATE PRESSURE MOUNTS AS MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL CONTINUES TO UNFOLD

So-called “phantom enrollments” also have popped up in earnest through social media ads from such brokerages or intermediaries visiting homeless camps and the like to get names and information to bolster their rolls.

When asked what concerned Americans can do to check if they’ve been involuntarily enrolled in an Obamacare plan that costs them nothing but drains taxpayer funds, Blase said they might be able to call their state health care authority, but suggested there isn’t a clear route to go.

“What we need is better government policy, so these subsidies can’t be constructed to make the plans 100% paid by taxpayers,” he said. “All the enrollees need to pay something for their coverage – that’s part of a minimum of what the accountability should be.”

KAROLINE LEAVITT WARNS ‘PEOPLE WILL BE IN HANDCUFFS’ AS FEDS ZERO IN ON MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

“A lot of the issues are the government just sends the payments directly to the providers. They don’t go to the patients.”

He said President Donald Trump has advocated for changing that dynamic and cutting the insurance companies out of direct cash flow, giving the consumer control and coincidentally clipping some of the alleged fraud.

While then-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., famously tanked Republicans’ closest bid to successfully repeal Obamacare, Blase said such a bill remains “politically implausible.”

TRUMP OFFICIAL FREEZES MILLIONS IN SBA AID TO MINNESOTA, SLAMS WALZ’S POLICIES AS BREEDING ‘ENDEMIC’ FRAUD

Blase said Congress should expand non-Obamacare options, including allowing small businesses to band together and expanding health savings accounts.

“There’s also options outside of Obamacare that are much more flexible and affordable,” he said. “Families should be able to finance their healthcare, spend their own money on their healthcare and their health coverage the way that they want.” 

“And then within Obamacare, there’s so much spending,” he said. “We can take a portion of this spending and give it to individuals so that they have control in a health savings account so that they can use the coverage and they can use federal money in the ways that work best for them.” 

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Several lawmakers, including Reps. Blake Moore, R-Utah, Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., have advocated for expanding health savings account access, according to reports.

On the Democratic side, some lawmakers defended Obamacare subsidies continuing to flow, including Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.

Welch said there are a number of bipartisan lawmakers who see “what a disaster [letting subsidies expire] will be for families that they represent.”

“We could extend the credits for a couple of years, we could reform it,” he told Tampa’s NPR affiliate. “You could put an income cap, you could have a copay, you could have penalties on insurers who commit fraud. You actually could introduce some cost-saving reductions that have bipartisan support.”

Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.

ALLEN PARK — Jack Campbell and Penei Sewell were named to the AP All-Pro first-team for the Detroit Lions.

It’s the third consecutive first-team nod for Sewell, 25, who was also named Pro Football Focus’ protector of the year earlier this week. PFF graded Sewell as the top offensive lineman, and not just tackle, in the NFL this season. He allowed only two sacks and 19 pressures across 601 pass-blocking snaps as the top-ranked pass-blocking offensive lineman.

For all the focus on the offensive line and what needs to happen this offseason, Sewell’s presence gives them a cornerstone, blue-chip piece to build around.

Campbell earned his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro nod this season, putting the bows on a true breakout campaign for the former first-round pick. The 25-year-old joins Chris Spielman and Joe Schmidt as the only Lions linebackers ever to make the All-Pro first-team.

The linebacker finished the season by playing all 17 games for the third straight season, posting career highs in tackles (176), sacks (five), forced fumbles (three), fumble recoveries (two) and tackles for loss (nine). Campbell did all this while taking over the green dot for the first time, and playing more snaps than any other teammate — offense, defense or special teams.

The third-year linebacker finished the season as PFF’s second-best overall linebacker, trailing only Fred Warner of the San Francisco 49ers. Campbell’s 176 tackles were the second-most in the league in 2025.

“He’s extremely valuable,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said of his linebacker last month. “He’s taken more reps than anybody on this team. He plays on kickoff for us, and he’s an asset on kickoff and then everything you see on defense. He doesn’t come off the field; he’s our bell-cow, green-dot. And he does –, and the guy is smart, and he’s instinctive, and he is snap-to-whistle all-out, all the time, in practice too. And he doesn’t take plays off, he doesn’t take days off, he goes after the football, he’s a ball guy.

“So, he’s invaluable.”

Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had made the first team in consecutive years, was named to the AP’s second team this time around. St. Brown finished the season fifth in receptions (117), fifth in yards (1,401), tied for second in touchdowns (11) and seventh in yards after the catch (570).

The star wideout became the first player in league history to have at least 90 catches through a player’s first five seasons. St. Brown has at least 100 catches and 1,000 yards in four straight seasons, and has caught double-digit touchdowns in the last three.

Aidan Hutchinson joined in on the fun this year, too. Hutchinson earns his first AP All-Pro team nod, landing a second-team spot this season. Not too shabby for someone returning from a season-ending leg injury, and his return served as quite the response.

Hutchinson, who got his big extension this year, played every game and set a new career-best mark with 14.5 sacks and 35 quarterback hits. He also scored his second Pro Bowl appearance this year, as well. Since PFF started tracking pressures, there have been six players to reach the 100-pressure mark. Hutchinson is the only one on that list to have done it twice.

The pass rusher led the NFL in pressures created, finishing the campaign with a clear 100. The next closest player was Jacksonville’s Josh Hines-Allen, who had 95.

“The number of things that he’s able to do for us in the run and the pass game,” Dan Campbell said of Hutchinson earlier in the season. “Man, it takes up — he pulls a lot of slack, man. You talk about pulling your weight, he pulls his weight and then some. He requires a lot of resources offensively, which helps everybody else out. Guys like him, he’s in that rare world of man, you don’t get the easy way out. He’s got to beat the nudges, he’s got to beat the back chip, then the tackle’s on him. Or he’s got to beat the nudge, sometimes the back, the tackle, and the slide’s coming to him with the guard also.

“So, sometimes you may have to beat three, sometimes four. But if that’s the case, somebody else is winning. They’ve got to win. So, what he does is not easy, and I go back to this. He is a complete football player; he does it all. And he’s disruptive, he’s violent, he’s high motor, he’s crafty, he’s explosive, he’s tough, he’s competitive. And he does it all. He does it all.”

For a full look at the AP’s All-Pro voting results, click here. Of note, longtime former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford earned the first All-Pro first-team nod of his career this year. Stafford remains in the MVP hunt, and this honor usually leads to that.

By LaKeshia N. Myers

Message to readers: This article is a reprint of my editorial originally published in the Milwaukee Courier on May 11, 2024. I present it today, in honor of my mother, Girtha Myers, who passed away on January 3, 2026. She was the embodiment of grace and tenacity, and for me, she was perfection in human form. Rest in peace, Mama. I love you.

Dear Mama, As I approach my fortieth birthday, it occurred to me that quite a bit has transpired in the time we have known each other. While I often joke with you and dad that my arrival was, “the best thing that ever happened to you,” only lately have I considered that my birth propelled you both into a stratosphere of the unknown. In an instant, you transitioned from young people who lived footloose and fancy free and were transfixed into a new world with a new title, parents. Two people with whom new names were given, “Mama” and “Daddy.” You both have excelled at those roles, exceedingly and above what could ever be asked.

Only now that I am older do I fully appreciate the identity shift that was probably required of you when you became my mother. The weight of responsibility that was heaped upon you and the fear of the unknown. But as time went on, I’d like to think we learned to complement each other. You desired obedience and taught me to have respect for myself and others; to treat people as I would like to be treated; and that my name was one of the greatest assets I had in this life and to protect it at all costs.

I get my work ethic from you and daddy equally, but my ambitious nature is all you. My commitment to community and tendency to over-commit to too many organizations and projects is something I picked up from you along the way too. You always said, “If you want something done right, do it yourself”—I think I may have taken that one a little too far sometimes (smile). But you provided me the opportunity to thrive, experience the world, travel, question authority, have a voice, and love myself.

Like most parent/child relationships, ours has endured many seasons. As I approach forty, I am reminded of its significance in our faith. Forty represents transition, signifies new life, new growth, transformation, a change from one great task to another. As I watch you now, aging gracefully—with now more locks of grey, we have entered yet another period of transition, where sometimes I feel more like your parent than your daughter, and you behave like a rebellious teenager (go figure). I am thankful for the opportunities of laughter, solace, and discipline.

Thank you, for being my mother. Now that I am older, thank you for being my friend. You are a wonderful mother. You are the perfect mother for me. I love you. Love Always, LaKeshia