Your Sloppy Oversight Let Scammers Steal Hundreds of Millions [WATCH]

Dr. Mehmet Oz announced a sweeping federal audit of Minnesota’s Medicaid program, saying investigators are reviewing all billing tied to 14 programs that state officials have acknowledged were problematic and warning that hundreds of millions of dollars may have been improperly taken from federal taxpayers.

In remarks outlining the action, Dr. Oz said his office has formally notified Tim Walz that the federal government is moving forward with a comprehensive review and intends to recover misspent funds.

“We have just sent a letter to Governor Walz, alerting him to something he probably fears and should have taken action in a timely manner to avoid we are auditing all of the Medicaid bills, in particular for the 14 programs that he and his own administration have admitted were problems, and we’re going to claw that money back from the Medicaid monies that they’ll be getting,” Oz said.

Oz said the scope of the review reflects what federal officials believe is a long-running failure by the state to properly oversee Medicaid spending.

“Now this is a major problem for the state, because they’ve got to own the fact that they have been bilking the federal taxpayer for their sloppy behavior for years,” he said.

According to Oz, early findings suggest the suspected misconduct in Minnesota could represent one of the largest Medicaid fraud cases on record.

“What we have learned so far, Minnesota is just the tip of the iceberg, perhaps the largest Medicaid scam ever taking place throughout the state in many different fashions,” he said.

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Oz said the financial exposure could exceed half a billion dollars.

“But just along with the things that we’re concerned about, we’re talking about $500 million or more of money that could be in places that we’re not even sure. How it was built, where it went, people having trouble tracking it,” he said.

He also criticized the response submitted by the Walz administration after federal officials requested corrective measures.

Oz said the state was given until the end of the year to submit a plan but failed to provide an adequate response.

“We challenged the Walz administration to give us a corrective action plan by the end of the year, they sent us something after hours on New Year’s Eve. It was completely insufficient,” he said.

Oz described the audit and recovery effort as a necessary federal response and said it has the backing of Donald Trump.

“This is an appropriate response from the federal government. President Trump is very clear on this. He doesn’t want 6 million people or less living in Minnesota to have all the fraud that happened in that state paid for by all the other taxpayers in the country and for the 6 million people in Minnesota,” Oz said.

He placed responsibility for the situation squarely on the governor and his administration.

“Governor Walz let you down. His administration, despite all the blustering now, did not do their job. They did not take these very credible allegations over the last several years seriously,” Oz said.

Oz said state officials repeatedly assured federal administrators that the problems were under control, a claim he rejected.

“Just the time that I’ve been administrator, they’ve been telling us that they have this handled. They did not,” he said.

He concluded by saying federal officials will require Minnesota to address the deficiencies and will pursue reimbursement to safeguard taxpayers nationwide.

“And so the corrective action plans that they have submitted since they are inadequate. We’re going to demand that they fix those problems, and we’re going to claw back money to protect the federal taxpayer,” Oz said.

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