Michael Weidner, Faye Bernstein testify of DHS's culture of Medicaid Fraud

It isn't surprising that another form of welfare fraud has been detected. Last week, Michael Weidner, the executive director of the Minnesota Paratransit Providers Association, testified in the Minnesota House. More accurately, he provided lots of explosive testimony to the House Fraud Prevention Committee. For instance, he testified that "Fraud is not new to NEMT. What is new is DHS’ complete lack of any attempt or desire to curb fraud. This DHS apathy is disgusting."

Alpha News reported "NEMT rides have decreased by 62% amid increased scrutiny of fraud. 'That’s a 62% reduction in rides. Where did they go? They just vanished,' he said during a meeting of the House fraud committee last week. 'They weren’t picked up by any other nonemergency medical transportation department … It’s sad to say it but it seems like there’s at least 62% of the rides are fraudulent.'"

The Minnesota Department of Human Services responded:

"The Minnesota Department of Human Services is aware of the decline in rides represented in the graphic and also in our own claims data. We can’t confidently state yet that there has been in fact a clear decline in rides, because providers have a year to bill. There are several months left for providers to bill from calendar year 2025," the agency said.

That's insulting. How many for-profit companies bill their clients, then give their client a year to pay their bills? Whatever the real reason is for the reduction in ridership, it's obvious that the Walz administration, with the DFL, isn't interested in preventing fraud. That's just part of the story. Faye Bernstein's story is just as compelling and just as infuriating:

Faye Bernstein shared her story Monday and put forth a powerful, targeted declaration. A 20-year employee at the Department of Human Services, Bernstein disparaged the department culture by telling what happened about seven years ago when she questioned its activities.

"In the course of doing my job I came across some contract irregularities that I would consider in the scope of what we talk about today to be quite minor. But as minor as they were it was not something DHS leadership could hear. As I result of me speaking about it, I was locked out of the building, I was banned from all DHS owned and licensed property," she told the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee.

Gov. Tim Walz's declarations aren't worth the paper they're printed on. That's because they're lies. Minnesota's Department of Human Services doesn't need new legislation as much as it needs the firing of every person in management. That isn't saying new practices aren't needed. That's required, too. What I'm saying is that the personnel is corrupt but that it's required that the DFL can't be trusted to fix this problem. Here is Faye Bernstein's opening statement:

It's chilling to hear Ms. Bernstein's statement was essentially the same as the OLA's official report on the culture at DHS. It's chilling because Jim Nobles was the legislative auditor in 2019. Mr. Nobles' reputation as a by-the-books investgator is unsurpassed. Period.