Minnesota officials think slapping on one extra "verification layer" to their fraud-riddled Medicaid programs is going to fix anything?
What a joke!
With federal prosecutors alleging that taxpayers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes have been fleeced for potentially over $9 billion since 2018, Gov. Tampon Tim Walz's administration is rolling out this supposed tough new measure: Healthcare giant Optum will now peek at payments from high-risk programs before they go out to providers. If something looks fishy, it'll get kicked to the inspector general.
But let's be real, this is closing the barn door after the horses have bolted, been sold on the black market, and used the proceeds to buy Lambos.
Former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam nailed it when he told Fox News Digital that this band-aid won't touch the massive scam operation that's been running wild under Walz's watch.
"Putting an extra layer in is not going to help," Gilliam said. "And one layer is not gonna stop any, it may stop one part of the fraud, it's not really gonna make any difference overall."
Gilliam said the governor committed "at the minimum malpractice" given the eye-watering scale of theft on his turf.
This half-hearted "fix" comes after feds dropped the bomb in mid-December: 14 programs alone racked up $18 billion in costs since 2018, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said at a presser that "half or more" could be pure fraud.
"When I say significant, I'm talking in the order of half or more. But we'll see," Thompson said. "I think a significant portion."
And that's not all; Thompson announced charges against six more suspects tied to a separate housing services scam. In one standout case, a defendant allegedly pocketed $1.4 million in bogus claims, blew some on cryptocurrency, and then skipped the country after getting subpoenaed.
Then there's the infamous Feeding Our Future clusterfrack, where the nonprofit's ringleaders fabricated meal services for needy kids and walked away with nearly $250 million in taxpayer cash.
Criminal defense attorney Sam Bassett told Fox News Digital this mess screams incompetence from the top.
"I think it remains to be seen when the details come out, but it does have that tenor about it right now that somebody should have done something sooner. Maybe this should have been detected much sooner to prevent continued violations," Bassett said.
Somebody? Under Walz's administration, billions vanished while oversight was apparently optional. This new Optum gimmick is just window dressing for a scandal that's exposed endemic failure in Minnesota's welfare system. Taxpayers deserve real accountability, not this too-little, too-late nonsense.
With federal prosecutors alleging that taxpayers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes have been fleeced for potentially over $9 billion since 2018, Gov. Tampon Tim Walz's administration is rolling out this supposed tough new measure: Healthcare giant Optum will now peek at payments from high-risk programs before they go out to providers. If something looks fishy, it'll get kicked to the inspector general.
But let's be real, this is closing the barn door after the horses have bolted, been sold on the black market, and used the proceeds to buy Lambos.
Former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam nailed it when he told Fox News Digital that this band-aid won't touch the massive scam operation that's been running wild under Walz's watch.
"Putting an extra layer in is not going to help," Gilliam said. "And one layer is not gonna stop any, it may stop one part of the fraud, it's not really gonna make any difference overall."
Gilliam said the governor committed "at the minimum malpractice" given the eye-watering scale of theft on his turf.
This half-hearted "fix" comes after feds dropped the bomb in mid-December: 14 programs alone racked up $18 billion in costs since 2018, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said at a presser that "half or more" could be pure fraud.
"When I say significant, I'm talking in the order of half or more. But we'll see," Thompson said. "I think a significant portion."
And that's not all; Thompson announced charges against six more suspects tied to a separate housing services scam. In one standout case, a defendant allegedly pocketed $1.4 million in bogus claims, blew some on cryptocurrency, and then skipped the country after getting subpoenaed.
Then there's the infamous Feeding Our Future clusterfrack, where the nonprofit's ringleaders fabricated meal services for needy kids and walked away with nearly $250 million in taxpayer cash.
Criminal defense attorney Sam Bassett told Fox News Digital this mess screams incompetence from the top.
"I think it remains to be seen when the details come out, but it does have that tenor about it right now that somebody should have done something sooner. Maybe this should have been detected much sooner to prevent continued violations," Bassett said.
Somebody? Under Walz's administration, billions vanished while oversight was apparently optional. This new Optum gimmick is just window dressing for a scandal that's exposed endemic failure in Minnesota's welfare system. Taxpayers deserve real accountability, not this too-little, too-late nonsense.
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