Locator: 49754MINNESOTA.
Literally, on a global basis, Minnesota literally opened its coffers to anyone who wanted / needed cash.
ATM on steroids.
It will be interesting if "they" start looking for a fraud that was even bigger.
This is truly amazing.
Minnesota has a two-year budget.
Most recently, a slight surplus. Going into the next two-year cycle, Minnesota was already projecting a slight deficit due to increased health care costs, other items, and that was before the fraud, which is conservatively estimate at $2 billion; now estimates upwards of $9 billion, suggesting it could hit $10 billion because folks don't want to be accused of hyperbole.
Minnesota's two-year budget runs about $60 billion ($30 billion / year), so $10 billion / $30 billion is absolutely unimaginable. Or is it? Depends how long the fraud has been going on.
Governor Walz seems absolutely out of his element. A high school assistant football coach? Is that correct?
Later: I just spent quite a bit of time with ChatGPT to try to put this scandal in perspective. It's interesting. Two takeaways:
- yes, it's huge; can't be sugar-coated; it's huge;
- at the end of the day -- it will simply become a political story. Apparently Medicare fraud is so bad -- the argument simply becomes "everyone does it (every state has challenges with Medicare fraud)" -- "we identified the problem" and stopped it" -- "it's the cost of doing business; overall Medicare is well run and every so often there will be a scandal -- in it's own way -- no worse than the $600 hammers or $600 toilets contracted the Department of Defense.
And, so we move on.
Oh, one last thought. If it simply gets down to "it's the cost of doing business," Minnesota is in good shape. Let's say at worse it comes out to a "$10-billion scandal." That's how much Warren Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway paid for OxyChem and in the big picture, it didn't even affect the BRK cash hoard -- currently about $385 billion.
It's a political story.
Other frauds:
- Enron (2001) -- corporate accounting fraud -- $70 billion in assets / market impact
- WorldCom (late 1990s - early 2000s) -- accounting fraud -- $11 billion
- Madoff Ponzi schemed (2008) -- investor fraud -- $60 billion
The largest government-related welfare / benefits fraud cases in US history:
- 2025 National Health are Fraud Takedown -- $14.6 billion alleged
- Operation Gold Rush (2025) -- $10 billion alleged in one scheme
- DOJ Health Care Fraud Takedown (2018) -- $2 billion in billed fraud
- Philip Esformes Medicare Fraud Case -- $1 billion
- HCA (Columbia / HCA) settlements -- $1.7 billion recovered
And, so we move on. These comparisons have been of great help. It explains why a lot of folks I've talked with down here in Texas are unaware of the Minnesota Medicare scandal or don't care.
This will be the narrative:
