Minnesota
Ellison outlines his plan to take on Medicaid fraud in Minnesota
(FOX 9) – Attorney General Keith Ellison is throwing his support behind a piece of legislation to combat Medicaid fraud in Minnesota.
Ellison fraud proposal
What we know:
Attorney General Keith Ellison and Rep. Matt Norris unveiled a proposal for a revised Medical Assistance Protection (MAP) Act, which would increase fraud unit staffing for the attorney general’s office and give the attorney general new powers to combat fraud.
Dig deeper:
Ellison’s revised proposal adds 18 dedicated, specialized staff to the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which increases the unit from 32 staff members to 50.
Ellison also points out the feds match every dollar Minnesota pledges towards fighting Medicaid fraud on a three-to-one basis. So, Minnesota will only really need to pay for four of the 18 positions at a cost of $1.2 million per every two-year budget cycle.
The staffing increase also comes at the recommendation of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
What else?:
The proposal would also change the definition of Medicaid fraud under state law to make it easier for prosecutors to go after fraudsters. Currently, Ellison says Medicaid fraud is defined as “presenting a false claim for reimbursement with intent to defraud.”
“That’s it,” said Ellison. “Such a narrow definition is challenging for prosecutors because it does not capture all the criminal conduct that can be part of a Medicaid fraud case.”
Ellison says the new proposal would ban acts like lying with the intent to defraud, falsifying records about the delivery of services, and destroying records when you receive a request from a state agency. The act would also increase the penalties for Medicaid fraud to match those of private sector fraud.
It would also give the attorney general’s office greater power to subpoena financial records and increase the statute of limitations to better handle longer-term fraud schemes.
Fraud report released
The backstory:
Ellison’s proposal comes two days after the release of a report by the man put in charge of combating fraud in Minnesota by Governor Walz. Program Integrity Director Tim O’Malley’s report found failures in oversight dating back to the 1970s.
Former Minnesota Department of Human Services workers also raised concerns that department leaders urged “compassion over compliance” when it came to fraud prevention.
The report also pointed to an example of lawmakers undermining state employees’ efforts to fight fraud.
The other side:
Republican lawmakers have also laid out their plans to combat fraud. GOP leaders are proposing the Fraud Isn’t Free Act, which creates consequences for agencies and commissioners who allow fraud to occur unchecked.
Big picture view:
Federal prosecutors have said that Medicaid fraud in Minnesota could total as high as $9 billion since 2018. Though state prosecutors have disputed that estimate, that claim, criticisms from President Trump, and the viral video created by right-wing influencer Nick Shirley have created an intense focus on fraud in the state.
Fraud also was a driving factor behind President Trump’s surge of federal officers into Minnesota in December and January.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings have submitted a bid to host the 2028 NFL Draft, multiple city and team stakeholders confirmed Wednesday. The team is working in conjunction with Minnesota Sports and Events, the regional sports commission that helped secure Super Bowl LII after the 2017 season.
“Minnesota is in contention,” Matt Meunier, the bid director for Minnesota Sports and Events, said. “We’re in the game. We’re actively pursuing the right to bring a future NFL draft to our community.”
Traditionally, the NFL awards future host cities during one of the league’s annual spring or summer ownership meetings. The owners are scheduled to meet on March 29 in Phoenix and on May 19 in Orlando, Fla.
The Vikings began their pursuit in 2019. Team executives have attended previous drafts. They have also visited the league office to reiterate their interest.
“We have basically been staying in their face for multiple years,” said Lester Bagley, the Vikings’ executive vice president of public affairs.
Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf has wanted to bring the event to Minnesota for years. Last fall, speaking at the team’s practice facility in Eagan, Minn., he said that the subject remained a focus. In conversations with the NFL, league executives mentioned U.S. Bank Stadium as an intriguing location. Minnesota Sports and Events proposed multiple options, but many of them centered around U.S. Bank Stadium.
Experience helps in this regard, too. The Vikings and Minnesota Sports and Events collaborated on the winning bid for the Super Bowl in early 2018. Bagley and Wendy Blackshaw, the president and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events, said the league came away pleased with the result.
The Vikings plan to commit financial and staff support to help with the bid. The team and Minnesota Sports and Events have also obtained resources from executives from three local companies: Christophe Beck of Ecolab, Gunjan Kedia of U.S. Bank and Geoff Martha of Medtronic.
Blackshaw wouldn’t divulge the specifics on the investments, but she did suggest that Minnesota Sports and Events estimates an economic impact of more than $100 million.
“There is a significant interest in this event,” Blackshaw said, “especially an event of this scale. It would be amazing.”
Typically, host cities must submit bids for multiple years before they are selected by the NFL. Pittsburgh will host the 2026 NFL Draft in less than a month, and Washington, D.C., is scheduled to host the 2027 NFL Draft.
Last year, The Buffalo News reported that the Bills were throwing their hats in the ring for 2028 to coincide with the opening of the new Highmark Stadium.
“Certainly, if 2028 doesn’t work out, we’d need to pivot to a future year,” Meunier said.
Both the team and Minnesota Sports and Events said Wednesday that they intend to pursue the event annually until it is held in Minnesota.
A Twin Cities mom got a big scare this weekend when her 8-year-old son wandered far away from home.
Sarah Curfman’s son, Felix, who has Down syndrome, was playing with his bigger sister Sunday morning, when his mom said he suddenly went missing from his Shakopee, Minnesota, home.
“The panic was very real,” said Curfman.
After Curfman and her husband shouted Felix’s name with no luck, the Scott County Sheriff’s Office was called.
“Luckily the sheriff’s department had way better tools than the two of us to try and find him,” said Curfman.
The sheriff’s office took the search to the air with the help of a heat-detecting drone. Roughly 40 minutes later, Felix was found walking on a frozen creek bed.
“If he had gotten kind of farther up, there was much more open water,” said Curfman.
Thankfully, Felix was fine, returning home after his half-mile trek with just a wet sock and shoe.
The Scott County Sheriff’s Office has been using drones for six years, thanks to donations from local banks and rotary clubs, said Scott County Sheriff Luke Hennen.
The technology was key in significantly cutting down on search time, he said.
“I think easily in a case like this, it could have turned into an hour or two, right, just to get enough fire personnel walking, you know, sweeping through the different areas,” said Hennen.
Curfman is now taking extra precautions with Felix.
“We ordered a ton of air tags in the short term. I ordered a shoe insert that can go in his shoe, a little pin that we’re going to put a sheriff’s badge on that he’ll wear on his body,” said Curfman.
All as Felix gets a better gasp of boundaries.
“He’s an 8-year-old boy that is probably going to go on more adventures, so we just have to figure out how to keep him safe,” said Curfman.
If you have a newer car, you may be in for some sticker shock when you renew your Minnesota license tabs. That’s because the formula for calculating fees has changed due to a 2023 bill.
If your car is less than five years old, you could even be seeing tab prices go up year over year.
Jeff Craig drives a Subaru Forester. He bought it used, but was shocked when he renewed his tabs.
“We paid the tab on it for the first time and the next year it was more expensive,” Craig said.
The new formula means the average driver paid $178 in registration taxes this year — a 20% increase. Craig thinks it unfair.
“The car depreciates, but the tax goes up? Really? Is that how that’s supposed to work? I don’t thing so,” he said.
But the 2023 bill didn’t just change the state’s overall formula for calculating license tab fees; it also changed the way it calculates the depreciation of your vehicle.
The state calculates that your new car loses 5% of its value a year, so 10% over two years. The Kelley Blue Book estimates that over two years, the average new car loses 30% of its value.
GOP state Sen. John Jasinski has a bill to roll back the changes.
“People are frustrated. It’s just very expensive,” Jasinski said. “You’re paying a lot more up in the first couple years now, and it’s very expensive on a new car.”
But the state says tabs for older cars are going down, and that many Minnesota drivers will pay less. And If you can hang onto your car for 11 years, your renewal cost is a flat $35 plus taxes and fees.
The bill to roll back the changes is moving forward in the GOP-controlled House, but it’s stalled in the state Senate.
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