Minnesota Republicans are accusing Democrats of keeping lawmakers in the dark for months about a state-commissioned Medicaid assessment that flagged more than $52 million in improper payments, arguing the delay denied them a chance to act on the report’s specific findings during the legislative session before the election. "Fraud here has exploded under the Walz administration," Minnesota Republican Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth told Fox News Digital. "Governor Walz has held no one in his entire administration accountable for the level of fraud.
It definitely brings into question what is in that report and why are they hiding it?" The Walz administration hired Optum to conduct a third-party review of Minnesota’s Medicaid program, scrutinizing 14 high-risk services. The report identified more than $52 million in improper payments but cautioned that improper payments do not necessarily constitute "fraud, waste or abuse." The Department of Human Services released a heavily redacted version to the public in February, prompting calls from Republican lawmakers to make the full version available so they could address the risks raised during the legislative session. "Our election here in Minnesota is 29 days away.
We’re just four weeks out, and you really have to wonder why they are refusing to do this," Demuth, who is the GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News Digital. WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES Minnesota currently has a divided state legislature, with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) holding a slim 34-33 majority in the Senate and a rare 67-67 partisan tie in the House. Tim Walz announced the audit in October 2025, months before allegations of widespread fraud involving members of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora drew national attention.
Mounting scrutiny of the Walz administration’s handling of alleged fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs contributed to growing political pressure before Walz ended his re-election campaign in January. WALZ'S 'EXIT INTERVIEW' REFLECTING ON HIS TENURE SPARKS LAWMAKER DEBATE ABOUT HIS LEGACY: 'NEVER SERIOUS' Republican state Sen. Jordan Rasmusson is also accusing the Walz administration and his Democratic counterparts of seeking to "minimize" the fraud issue in the state.
"I think it’s really hard for Democrats, elected Democrats in Minnesota, to admit that we have a fraud problem of this scale, and to take accountability for those failings," Rasmusson told Fox News Digital. The Department of Human Services said the report was heavily redacted to protect Optum’s trade secrets and prevent the release of sensitive security information that could provide criminals a "roadmap" for committing fraud. Rasmusson introduced an amendment in April to make the full Optum report public, but it failed along party lines.
A version of Rasmusson's provision was later passed in May as part of a broader budget package. MINNESOTA'S ANTI-ICE AID FUND BECOMES LATEST CASUALTY OF STATE'S EMBARRASSING FRAUD PROBLEM Under the law, DHS must provide the initial Optum reports to members of a legislative committee with "jurisdiction over human services policy and finance" following a joint request from the committee’s chair and ranking minority member. Lawmakers may review the report but cannot publicly release protected nonpublic information it contains.
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