US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday announced that the Trump administration would temporarily halt some Medicaid funding to Minnesota due to alleged misuse of public funds.
During a conference with Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, Vance said that “there are way too many Americans who are being defrauded by very bad actors in our society.” He stated that halting funds will “ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money.”
Vance’s announcement in part follows allegations targeting Somali child care providers in Minnesota. At the end of last year, the administration dispatched federal officials to Minnesota to investigate an unsubstantiated claim on social media by right-wing influencer Nick Shirley that daycare centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had misappropriated more than $100 million in federal funds. Shirley entered various daycares, asking workers where the children were and questioning the amount of funding they received.
While many have criticized Shirley’s investigation and the administration’s response, state sources have also expressed concern about fraud and misappropriated funds in Minnesota. Earlier this week, state Program Integrity Director Tim O’Malley called for a roadmap to address the widespread deception across Minnesota social service programs.
“We need to hold accountable commissioners, mid-level supervisors, and frontline workers… I think that there had been inadequate accountability for some,” he said.
O’Malley released a 57-page report called “Roadmap to Program Integrity and Fraud Prevention,” which is grounded in nine key pillars and claims that a cultural shift among state workers is necessary to ensure that taxpayer money is properly spent. The conception that state worker jobs are based more on “compassion than compliance,” in O’Malley’s view, is “misplaced.”
The state’s Autism Services revealed evidence of fraud, which was initially unable to be caught because providers do not have to be licensed. Only six of 500 autism centers have applied for licensing. Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Shireen Gandhi added, “Of the 14 high-risk programs, about five are licensed.”
O’Malley claimed that this abuse traces back decades, and when worries were raised, no solutions were implemented. His report has been delivered to the Minnesota legislature and governor, who will consider its suggestions.
The Minnesota DHS announced that in January that it would fight the federal government’s decision to withhold funds.
