Despite fraud scandal exploding onto the national scene and costing taxpayers billions, there are growing concerns that the state has still not done whats necessary to root out the problem.
“We have not slowed down, there is no sense in which the fraud has been stopped in Minnesota,” Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News Digital.
Glahn has been warning on social media that Minnesotas rapid growth in provisional assisted-living licenses, most for small facilities, may be outpacing state oversight. In a recent article, Glahn explained the states licensing database showed 364 new facilities with provisional licenses popping up over the past year and called for a 90-day moratorium on new licenses while officials investigate.
“We have something along the order of 2,500 of these licensed across the state, but about 20% of them, around three, 400 of them have just been started in the last year,” Glahn explained.
“I’m not sure if there’s a real underlying driver in the demographics or the demand for these facilities, but it’s odd that we have these assisted living facilities linked to Medicaid fraud, at the same time, the Minnesota Department of Health is approving more than one a day. More than one new facility gets approved every single day, 365 days a year. And I don’t think anybody is really giving any thought to, hey, maybe some of this is not on the up and up.”
Glahn also pointed to a recent criminal complaint filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellisons office against Salman Ahmed Elmi, who was charged Aug. 17 with eight felony theft offenses tied to alleged Medicaid billing fraud, as evidence that fraud is still taking place.
The criminal complaint also details alleged ties among the Medicaid-funded businesses, properties previously used to provide commercial sex services and people investigators say were part of a sex-trafficking organization.
“This is two scandals in one,” Glahn said. “You have a commercial sex operation, actual brothels, housed in what were later licensed as assisted-living facilities under the Medicaid program.”
Elmi previously from the state for being an “Outstanding Refugee.”
“Elmis case alone makes clear that this is not old news,” Glahn said. “This particular fraud was going on just a couple of months ago.”
Glahn argued that the latest allegations point to a deeper problem within the state agencies responsible for vetting providers and monitoring taxpayer-funded programs which havent been properly addressed.
“Personnel is policy,” Glahn said. “There isnt a regulatory mindset under the Walz administration. There isnt the mindset that we need to trust but verify.”
While Minnesota officials and lawmakers have taken some fraud-prevention steps since the fraud scandal erupted onto the national scene, Glahn stressed that the reforms do not address what he sees as the central issue: a lack of accountability for those who failed to identify the schemes earlier
“Walz has never cleaned house, hes never fired anybody for not detecting the fraud or not prosecuting the fraud,” Glahn said. “Its the same people doing the same thing, and that culture has never changed.”
For Glahn, the messaging should start at the top.
“They’re just operating as business as usual,” Glahn said. “We don’t have anybody who’s currently in office, currently in charge of state government, at least in the executive branch, who’s doing anything substantive to address the fraud. It’s just amazing how we see these reports every day, and we have Tim Walz tr
