GOP group takes aim at health care fraud

09/29/2006

BY JEREMY OLSON
Pioneer Press

Minnesota needs to get tougher on people who fraudulently obtain public health benefits and other state assistance, a group of Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.

As the costs of public programs such as Medical Assistance have skyrocketed in recent years, “the tolerance level for fraud in the public … has gone down,” said Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood.

Dean and three other Republican lawmakers spoke after a two-hour public hearing in which state and county fraud investigators detailed how some people either mistakenly or intentionally abuse the state’s public assistance programs.

They recommended 13 reforms, including tougher sentences for people who distribute false identification cards and for those who use those cards to obtain benefits. They also wanted a requirement that people apply in person for public health programs, to deter applicants from lying on their applications or prevent them from making innocent mistakes.

The most common abuses occur when people lie about their income, assets, or family or spousal situations, said Tim DesMarais, an investigator with the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department. He also said during the hearing that some illegal immigrants are able to obtain low-income benefits using their real names, because they used false names to earn jobs and paychecks.

The state does provide limited health benefits to undocumented women who are pregnant. The exact number of illegal immigrants receiving improper benefits is unclear.

There were roughly 8,000 administrative reviews last year of irregularities in public benefits, and 45 percent exposed fraud, said Ramona Scarpace of the state’s Department of Human Services. In addition, there were more than 2,200 criminal investigations, and 60 percent proved that people had received benefits illegally.

The state collected more than $2 million last year from people who received improper benefits by diverting money they were supposed to receive through federal programs or tax returns, Scarpace said at the hearing. The collections program has netted $19.7 million since it was started, she added.

Lawmakers intend to raise their suggestions in the next legislative session.

None of the Republican lawmakers called for increased state spending, though they noted the investment might pay for itself. Scarpace reported that every $1 spent on administrative reviews of fraud brings $5 back to the state.

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, said the state needs to place a higher priority on eliminating fraud. He was frustrated to learn that efforts to monitor abuses in the state’s MinnesotaCare program have been slowed by hiring problems.

“We need to protect these benefits for those who truly need them,” he said.

Rep. Barbara Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights, said people needing public assistance are already reluctant because of the negative perception that they are somehow cheating the system. She said the state should focus more on the providers of health care, welfare and day-care services who have opportunities to bilk far more money from the state.

“We’re not really addressing the people that get the most money out of the taxpayers on this,” she said.