Midwest
Top health policy expert calls Minnesota fraud ‘disgusting,’ warns Obamacare issues are nationwide
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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.”
LOEFFLER: VAST NETWORK OF SOMALI NONPROFITS RIPPED OFF MINNESOTA’S WELFARE STATE
Agents with Homeland Security in a Minneapolis store. The agency on Tuesday said it had launched an operation to identify, arrest and remove individuals suspected of fraud. (Department of Homeland Security)
“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.
FBI SURGES RESOURCES TO MINNESOTA AS PATEL CALLS $250M FRAUD SCHEME ‘TIP OF ICEBERG’
Paragon Health Institute President Brian Blase. (Fox News Digital)
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.
GOP LAWMAKER DEMANDS MINNESOTA FRAUD BE TREATED AS ‘ORGANIZED CRIME’ SCHEME
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.”
COMER, HOUSE OVERSIGHT DEMAND ANSWERS IN MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING, CALL ON WALZ TO TESTIFY
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.
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North Dakota
Video: A look at North Dakota’s 2026-2028 Fishing Guide
Greg Power, fisheries division chief with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, shares information about the new 2026-2028 Fishing Guide and a few new regulations starting April 1, 2026.
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Ohio
Funeral to be held for Ohio teen killed in scooter crash
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio (WSYX) — Family and friends will gather to remember a 17-year-old Olentangy Orange High School student who was killed while riding a scooter in Orange Township.
Anastasia Jehorek died Feb. 27 along state Route 750, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Troopers said she was riding in the side safety lane when she was hit by a car.
Jehorek’s family is remembering her as someone who always had a smile.
“I think she brought a lot of light to people’s lives, and that’s just a light that’s no longer with us,” said Anthony Bowling, Jehorek’s uncle.
The driver, Aviv Bukobza, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.
South Dakota
DOE selects nine school districts for 2026 South Dakota Perkins Reserve grant
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Nine school districts have been selected as recipients of the 2026 Perkins Reserve Grant by the South Dakota Department of Education.
The grant provides major equipment upgrades for Career and Technical Education programs, helping to equip students with the skills and experiences needed for post-secondary education and the workforce.
“CTE programs are constantly evolving to match the pace of workforce needs,” said Secretary of Education Dr. Joseph Graves.
“The South Dakota Perkins Reserve Grant aids schools in equipping students with current technologies, resources, and tools, offering students a realistic, hands-on learning experience that will strengthen their marketability to colleges or employers once they leave the K-12 education system.”
The following school districts have been named as the 2026 recipients:
- Aberdeen School District:
- Awarded $30,233 for new precision machine equipment for the manufacturing program.
- De Smet School District:
- Awarded $15,898 for modernizing metal fabrication within agriculture programs.
- Lake Preston School District:
- Awarded $43,160 for expansion of program offers in multiple career clusters to strengthen industrial alignment.
- McLaughlin School District:
- Awarded $11,997 to purchase equipment to offer a new culinary arts program.
- Menno School District:
- Awarded $32,844 to purchase small engines and attend professional development opportunities to enhance the agricultural mechanics program.
- Mitchell School District:
- Awarded $38,663 for the modernization of the automotive technology lab.
- Timber Lake School District:
- Awarded $42,400 for the expansion of agriculture course offerings to strengthen industry alignment.
- Wakpala School District:
- Awarded $40,145 to purchase a skid steer simulator to enhance the agriculture and construction program.
- Wolsey-Wessington School District:
- Awarded $26,201 to purchase industry-aligned equipment to enhance the agriculture and construction program.
You can learn more about the South Dakota Perkins Reserve Grant at doe.sd.gov.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
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