Dr Mehmet Oz flags alleged Minnesota Medicaid fraud as former factory housed 400 businesses

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Dr Mehmet Oz, and Jim O’Neill, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, have allegedly uncovered a new massive Medicaid fraud in Minnesota.

The focus is the Griggs Midway building, a former linen factory reportedly converted into hundreds of businesses billing Medicaid. The announcement comes amid the Trump administration's large-scale crackdown on welfare fraud and has sparked congressional scrutiny over the misuse of taxpayer funds in the state.

Dr Mehmet Oz raise allegations of welfare fraud

Dr Oz detailed the unusual nature of the operation, "Behind me is the Griggs Midway building. It looks like a factory because it was a factory. They made cloth back there, converted it to an office building. You'll notice all those little signs there, and there's tons of little businesses inside."

He reported that "roughly 400 Medicaid businesses were started in the building behind me over the last several years. They generated about $380 million of billing that you, the taxpayer, were putting up. That means roughly each business had a million dollars of billing."

Dr Oz questioned how the businesses could exist in an industrial area, "It's just not a hospitable place. The question is, how is it possible 400 businesses, billing almost $400 million, were able to thrive here? What did the owner of the business, this building, think was happening inside? Why did no one in the state figure out this was a concern?"

He continued, "Perplexingly to me, in a place of this nature, an industrial complex that people would not come to for child care or autism care or transportation support, how is it possible this could come up like an abscess in the heart of Minneapolis and nobody was watching?"

Dr Oz highlighted how state authorities overlooked the issue, "I think it's because they weren't looking. They didn't want to know that this problem was happening here."

He also emphasized the need for federal oversight: "It's very concerning to me that only now, when there's more federal supervision, are people beginning to ask tough questions."

Dr Oz also noted that observers were monitoring their visit, "So you'll notice there's already a watch group that's observing us."

House oversight probes welfare fraud and Nick Shirley’s role

Finally, Dr Oz spoke about the state’s response to scrutiny, "But the fact that you've got people behind me in cars concerned that we're even talking about this story, should be something that worries you. It bothers me. There's been a censoring of truth and inability just to own what's happening in their state."

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced Friday, January 23, that he was widening the congressional investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud in Minnesota.

In a letter to Minnesota Legislative Auditor Judy Randall, Comer requested documents and communications related to any review of the Minnesota Department of Human Services and fraud allegations. He also requested that the temporary commissioner at DHS be interviewed on January 30.

The allegations follow earlier reporting by Independent journalist Nick Shirley, who visited apparently vacant daycare centers in Minnesota and suggested that millions of taxpayer dollars were funding these empty facilities.

Shirley’s video prompted scrutiny and led to a congressional hearing titled “Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota: Part I.” During the hearing, he also testified and suggested that similar fraud could exist in California.