Medicaid & Federal Health Programs Oversight

House Oversight Chair James Comer has demanded all Office of Legislative Auditor files and a staff briefing and has summoned temporary Minnesota DHS Commissioner Shireen Gandhi for a transcribed interview on Jan. 30, 2026—warning compulsory process could follow—after an OLA performance audit found the DHS Behavioral Health Administration failed to comply with most tested requirements and lacked adequate internal controls over grant funds for July 1, 2022–2024 amid allegations that criminals stole roughly $9 billion from state social‑services programs. The action is part of a widening congressional probe, led by House Energy & Commerce, seeking records from Gov. Tim Walz and state officials dating back to at least 2019 and coordinating with CMS and DOJ reviews; Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has acknowledged the crisis, Walz has ordered a third‑party Medicaid audit and paused some payments, while whistleblowers describe a “lack of guardrails” and troubling HR practices that DHS disputes, citing low improper‑payment rates.

A House panel has opened what it calls an "industrial‑scale" probe into Minnesota's Medicaid program, expanding scrutiny and warning that demands on Gov. Tim Walz are "just the beginning." Whistleblower Faye Bernstein, a 20‑year Minnesota DHS contract‑management and compliance official, says lax contracting and a lack of guardrails by 2018–2019 left the agency open to fraud and that she was silenced and sidelined after raising concerns—while internal 2024 emails show members of the public repeatedly warned DHS about suspected fraud; the agency says federal data put the state's Medicaid improper‑payment rate at about 2.1% versus 6.1% nationally and that it has strong internal controls it is working to improve.