Minnesota Social‑Services Fraud

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.