MEDICAID

DOJ to announce major law enforcement action on fraud in Minnesota

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KVRR) — A major law enforcement action involving fraud in Minnesota will be announced on Thursday morning. A press conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Minneapolis at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be there along with Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Administrator of the Centers for…

Minnesota DHS shakeup: Shireen Gandhi removed as commissioner

ST. PAUL (KVRR/FOX9) — A sudden shakeup at Minnesota’s Department of Human Services, which is at the center of fraud investigations. Shireen Gandhi, the woman Gov. Tim Walz tapped to lead the agency, is being replaced by John Connolly on a temporary basis. He is the state’s Medicaid director who oversees policy across key service areas and leading Medical Assistance…

Former investigator testifies about DHS official pressuring him to remove fraud from reports

ST. PAUL (KVRR/FOX9) — Department of Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown and Inspector General Randall Keys faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers during a fraud hearing Tuesday. Brown and Keys appeared before the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee to present steps the department has taken to combat fraud. It was the same day the FBI…

North Dakota may expand Medicaid for mental health but some see other options

Kurt Snyder, executive director of the Heartview Foundation, shows a display of the different buildings the organization has operated in since 1964 during a tour of its facility in Bismarck on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — North Dakota lawmakers are drafting a policy that would change the system in which some…

Walz announces plan to centralize, modernize Department of Human Services to cut out fraud

ST. PAUL (KVRR/FOX9) — Gov. Tim Walz announces a major plan to modernize and centralize the Department of Human Services as part of an effort to crackdown on fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid programs. The state will shift away from “complex, layered administration managed by a patchwork of counties, Managed Care Organizations, and state agencies” to a centralized entity run by…

Walz lays out plan to give the state more control over Medicaid

Gov. Tim Walz (D) MinnesotaST. PAUL, Minn. (KVRR-KFGO) – Governor Tim Walz has released a proposal that he says would centralize and streamline the way Minnesota delivers human services, including Medicaid. The plan updates a decades-old system that relies on counties and managed care organizations to run the programs. Under the proposal, the state would determine eligibility for Medicaid and…

Minnesota Attorney General and DHS are pursuing federal legal action for Medicaid funds

MINNESOTA (KVRR) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota Department of Human Services have filed a federal lawsuit against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. The lawsuit claims the departments are illegally attempting to withhold $243 million in Medicaid payments after DHS has been working to abide by the…

North Dakota rural health grant opportunities imminent as feds OK spending plan

Lawmakers on the Joint Appropriations Committee study legislation during a January special session convened to budget the first two years of the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program funding. (Photo by Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — The federal government has approved most of North Dakota’s nearly $200 million plan implementing the first year of a massive rural…

Walz unveils anti-fraud package after Trump administration threatens to halt Medicaid funds

Gov. Tim Walz introduces anti-fraud legislative packageST. PAUL, Minn., (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz denounced the Trump administration’s latest threat to withhold federal funds from Minnesota as another step in a “retribution” campaign as he unveiled a package of legislation Thursday intended to fight fraud in public programs, a persistent problem that provided an impetus for the federal government’s immigration…

JD Vance says administration is pausing some Medicaid funding to Minnesota because of fraud concerns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Medicaid is the U.S. health care safety net for low-income Americans. As of late 2025, nearly 70 million…