Spending growth in Minnesota Medicaid services

By Alyssa Chen | Reporter

Good morning, Reformers. 

The scrutiny over alleged Minnesota Medicaid fraud centers around 14 services the state has deemed high-risk for fraud, waste and abuse. The Trump administration has zeroed in on those services in its repeated threats to cut critical Medicaid funding from the state. 

The Reformer recently received annual spending data on those Medicaid programs after filing a records request in early December. (It’s unclear why it took so long for them to send the numbers, which presumably the state is keeping track of….)

Max Nesterak and I found that spending in those programs — funded jointly by state and federal dollars — has more than doubled in the past five years, from $2.06 billion in 2021 to $4.32 billion in 2025. 

On first glance, the jump seems like it should’ve been a huge red flag for fraud, especially given numerous reports and prosecutions of fraud. But state administrators and legislators actually expected and even welcomed growth in the programs, several of which were designed to shift care away from nursing homes to home care. 

For example: in the case of early autism treatment services, Republican Sen. Jim Abeler said that some growth “was desirable because the program was expanding the way it was designed to go.”

“As a policymaker, I was hoping more kids could take advantage of it so they could work on their autism problem as a young child and actually get better,” Abeler said.

But the expectation that costs would go up seems to have created a blind spot for suspicious growth. Some providers, like those charged by federal prosecutors for defrauding the autism program by allegedly offering kickbacks and forging signatures, seized the opportunity to defraud the rapidly expanding services. 

So perhaps the jump in spending is more of a medium-sized, orange flag for fraud? Read our report and explore the data here. 

By Ariana Figueroa

WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will step down from her post, the Trump administration announced Monday, following multiple reports alleging work misconduct including misuse of funds and more. Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican from Oregon who lost her U.S. House reelection bid in 2024, will take a job in the private sector. 

The Department of Labor’s independent watchdog started an investigation into Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides over allegations of sending inappropriate messages to young staffers at the department, according to the New York Times. The inspector general was also investigating reports of misuse of department funds for personal travel and looking into allegations Chavez-DeRemer had an extramarital affair with a member of her security detail.

By Cara Letofsky

In commentary, Cara Letofsky scrutinizes the founding ideology of Cities Church, which has been the site of anti-ICE protests because a pastor also works as an ICE field officer: 

"Cities Church is not your run-of-the-mill Jesus-loving Christian church. Its leadership and its theological underpinnings are tied directly to what was happening outside the church’s doors during the federal government’s immigration enforcement crackdown. David Easterwood, the pastor who works for ICE, was deeply involved in the harm ICE agents caused across the region.

Cities Church’s distortion of the teachings of Jesus goes much deeper than Easterwood’s hypocrisy in claiming to be a follower of Jesus while ignoring his teaching. Indeed, it reaches all the way to the most powerful people in the country. The St. Paul church was planted by Joe Rigney, a leader in the White Christian Nationalist movement. He became one of the main voices attacking the protesters for disrupting the service.”

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