ST. PAUL, MN – Rep. Shane Mekeland, R-Clear Lake, issued the following statement regarding a Pioneer Press report that Minnesota’s Department of Human Services overpaid the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the White Earth Nation by $25 million for Medicaid services. Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles will be soon opening an investigation into the overpayments. According to a statement from Governor Walz, the overpayment issue had been occurring for five years.
“The level of dysfunction we have seen at DHS is an embarrassment to the state of Minnesota,” Mekeland said. “This is our largest state agency and taxpayers deserve answers. It’s time for House Democrats to stop sitting on their hands and schedule hearings so we can learn the depths of the agency’s problems and take appropriate action to root out this fraud, waste and abuse.”
All 55 members of the House Republican Caucus sent a letter earlier this week to House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, requesting hearings on the leadership shakeup at DHS.
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