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In Minnesota, they thought they would be spending three million dollars on children with autism. - Yes. - And they were gonna invest this three million dollars to give the kids who were there, not every child has autism, but you know, what enough do that there was gonna be a need to pay families to help these kids get through their days and manage their issues. Fine, the budget now is 400 million dollars. So, forget about the fact that it's more than 130 times more money. Who's gonna take care of the kids if all the kids are diagnosed with autism? Why does every child have autism? Because they started paying moms to lie that their children had autism, 'cause they could get paid money, and the kids who don't need services now are forced to take care of services because we're paying the service providers to take care of kids who don't have a problem. So you understand that it's a perverse process where if you don't do it, they think you're dumb. I'm paying the moms, I'm paying the providers, the kids, God bless them, have no idea this is happening, and you're just ripping money out of the system, but also diluting care for the kids who need it. This is what political patronage and dishonesty in these precious programs does. And again, the money's not the primary problem. It's hurting the people who are most vulnerable. Hubert Humphrey, whose name is on this building that I'm in right now in Washington, he said something beautiful, and he's a Democrat, by the way. He said, "It is the moral obligation of government "to take care of those at the dawn of their life, "which are our children. "We cover 53% of kids in America. "Most children are covered by Medicaid, "by our insurance or CHIP. "To take care of those at the twilight of life, "those are our seniors. "Every great society takes care of its seniors. "We're great people, we're gonna do that. "You've worked your whole life, you've contributed. "We respect you for that, we would help you." So those are the dawn of life, those are the twilight of life, and those living in the shadows, the kids and the adults and also people in the shadows. We've gotta take care of these people. Our fellow man needs our help, cowardly acts running from the challenges of dealing with corruption, of powerful forces who can influence what's going on in your life, who are uncomfortable to fight against. Nobody wants to fight the Russian mob in LA, but someone's gotta do it. I mean, my goodness, they elected you. Go do your job.

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I spoke in the fall about the iceberg I saw ahead. Something's fraud that's much larger than what's been visible to the public. When I said that it wasn't hyperbole or rhetoric, it was a warning. And today I wanna talk and I wanna show here a sense of what that iceberg looks like. 'Cause I think people deserve to know what that is and how big this problem is. Because we can't solve the problem until we grapple with the size of it. So the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services pulled the claims data for these 14 programs, dating back to 2018. And those 14 programs in Minnesota have cost $18 billion since 2018. And more than $3.5 billion in 2024 alone. So that's a sense of the magnitude of the problem. These are the 14 Medicaid programs, which is just a part of Medicaid. These wavered services that have been flagged as having issues with program integrity and fraud. Now I'm sure everyone is wondering how much of this $18 billion was fraud. That's not the million dollar question, that's the $18 billion question. The answer is far too much. And the task ahead of all of us is not only figuring out how much of that money was fraud, because we know a significant amount was, but figuring out how to put an end to the fraud in our state and get control of it. So let me end with this before I take questions. The magnitude of the fraud in Minnesota cannot be overstated. It's staggering amounts of money that have been lost. But it's not just about the money that's been stolen and wasted. This is a problem that's caused all of us to question what kind of state we live in. I think it's eroded our sense of collective statewide self-esteem and confidence. It's caused a state, as I've said before, that has long taken pride in having a strong economy, good schools, beautiful lakes, mini parks, and a sense of community spirit and civic mindedness. This fraud really calls into question all of that. And I think, I know that it's gone on, it's been allowed to go on far too long, and we need to do whatever we can to stop it in its tracks.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.