There’s a renewed push to fix what top officials are calling “a fraud problem” across the state.
Federal agents conducted raids at eight locations on Wednesday, the latest in a series of high-profile investigations into possible fraud.
The “tip of the iceberg” is how one state representative describes the scope of fraud schemes across the state.
“It’s very unfortunate for taxpayers, who feel like they’re getting fleeced,” said Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove).
Since February, Robbins has led a new committee at the State Capitol to address fraud.
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“In the first week it was open, I think we had like 530 reports,” Robbins said.
Since then, that committee has received well over 700 reports of alleged fraud that allow for whistleblower protection.
“I really feel like we’re just beginning to understand the business model of fraud and understand the nexus of all these programs,” Robbins said. “I think we’re going to need to take drastic steps.”
Those efforts to combat fraud come as federal authorities executed search warrants Wednesday at eight offices and homes around the metro connected to the state’s Housing Stabilization Services Program (HSS).
Investigators say these providers recruited people experiencing housing instability and signed them up for the program.
“They’re either not getting services or they’re getting substandard services,” Robbins said.
The search warrants claim the providers used the information to bill Medicaid.
“Medicaid, there’s a lot of federal money, maybe they need to come in and clean this up. Maybe we need to embed someone from the OLA’s office in DHS and make sure we’re really cleaning up the internal controls over there,” Robbins said.
