Medicaid fraud with a new twist

When it comes to being creative in ripping off Medicaid, companies, NGOs and nonprofits can get mighty creative. Investigative reporter A.J. Legoe has discovered another way companies are ripping off Medicaid by outsmarting the Walz administration. Legoe is reporting "Records obtained by KARE 11 reveal that Minneapolis-based Start Today Hennepin (STH), a for-profit housing support company, billed Medicaid for services supposedly provided to Realanda Rowland, a chronically homeless Native woman, on the day she died and for three consecutive weeks after her death in October 2022."

I didn't realize all of the opportunities open to grifters. The possibilities are limitless. A.J. Legoe's report continues, saying "Video from a Montana funeral service confirms Rowland was buried on October 25, 2022. That same day, records obtained by KARE 11 show STH submitted Medicaid claims for helping her 'sustain housing.'" Perhaps DHS should teach their employees that people don't need housing after they're buried or cremated.

This case is part of a larger pattern of alleged fraud tied to STH, which has received more than $8.2 million in payments, according to state data, making it the top biller in Minnesota’s HSS program since its inception.

It's astonishing that Minnesota has spent $61,000,000 thus far in FY2025 (year-to-date). This video is disturbing:

Finally, there's this:

Launched in 2020 to help elderly and disabled Minnesotans experiencing or at risk of homelessness find and maintain housing, the HSS program was initially projected to cost $2.6 million annually.

But by 2024, actual costs had ballooned to more than $100 million and were on pace to top $120 million this year before the Minnesota Department of Human Services announced in July plans to shut the entire program down due to fraud concerns revealed in KARE 11’s Housing Hustle investigations.

Apparently, Minnesota's Department of Human Services needs a) better training and b) a major attitude adjustment.