Accessibility menu
State Representative Matt Dean
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3018
For more information contact: Amber Berhow 651-296-5520
NEWS RELEASE
BRADLEY, DEAN, AND EMMER UNVEIL PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAM INTEGRITY INITIATIVE
ST. PAUL – Representative Fran Bradley, Chair of the Health Policy and Finance Committee, along with Representatives Matt Dean and Tom Emmer today unveiled a new public assistance program integrity initiative.
“Minnesota taxpayers spend more per capita on state assistance health care programs than any state in our region. Only five states in the nation spend more per capita on these programs than Minnesota does,” Bradley said. “It is precisely because Minnesota makes such a significant investment in health care that we must ensure these dollars are spent wisely. This important investment in children, families, and the health of Minnesota must be protected.”
“Health care is an issue that truly matters to Minnesotans,” Bradley continued. “Responsible governance demands we restore and build public confidence in these programs.”
“This initiative protects the health care safety net for legal Minnesota residents,” Dean said. “Last year, the DFL Senate blocked many common-sense reforms to stop illegal immigrants from receiving generous government benefits. In fact, the Democrats sought to spend taxpayer dollars to expand government benefits to illegal immigrants.”
“My greatest concern is that we as the state follow our own guidelines when it comes to public assistance programs,” explained Emmer. “It is a disservice to Minnesota residents when we fail to take reasonable measures to protect the very programs that are in place to protect them.”
The initiative includes the following 13 steps to improve program integrity:
Public Assistance Program Integrity Initiative
1. Continue the 60-month time limit when a welfare recipient is disqualified from the MFIP program due to committing fraud.
2. Require recipients to have a face-to-face interview during the initial application. Require application forms for health care programs to include information on the client’s reporting responsibilities and program requirements.
3. Require child care providers to keep a daily attendance time log to ensure integrity in the state’s child care assistance program.
4. Create a disqualification period for recipients committing fraud in health care programs and align it to same standards currently in child care programs. Give counties the option of using established procedure for the administrative disqualification hearing (ADH) process for Medical Assistance and Minnesota Care fraud.
5. Require immigration status and residency verification for applicants and enrollees of General Assistance Medical Care and MinnesotaCare.
6. Require all employees of the state and counties to make a written report to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) for any violation of federal immigration law by any applicant for Medical Assistance, General Assistance Medical Care or MinnesotaCare that is discovered by the employee.
7. Apply the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program when conducting immigration status verifications to the MinnesotaCare program.
8. Enhance penalties for those that create, manufacture, or sell fraudulent identification documents. These documents include Minnesota driver’s license and identification cards. Also, the definition is expanded to include any government issued identification document, including a passport, visa, military identification card, and Social Security card.
9. Enhance penalties for any knowingly unlawful use of “identification documents” from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor.
10. Create a new crime of possessing false identification documents under the identity theft statute.
11. Align GAMC and MinnesotaCare verification of assets to the current Medical Assistance requirements. In 2005, the Legislature required verification of countable assets for all applicants and recipients at application and review. However, this is currently not being applied to GAMC of MinnesotaCare.
12. Require recipients of GAMC and MinnesotaCare to report and verify new employment income within 10 days. This requirement would bring all public health care programs in line with current Medical Assistance requirements.
13. Require applicants of MinnesotaCare to provide employer verification of access to employer-subsidized coverage.
--30--
News Items
- DEAN SWORN IN FOR FIFTH TERM - (Posted: Jan 8 2013 3:00PM)
- STATE REPRESENTATIVE MATT DEAN SELECTED AS 2010 HENRY TOLL FELLOW - (Posted: 2010-05-26 00:00:00)
- State Rep. Dean Reacts to St. Croix Bridge Decision - (Posted: 2010-03-15 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
- Subscribe to RSS News Feeds
- Read more about RSS.