There’s a new cop in Minnesota
And his name is Jerry Kerber.
As of today he's the new Minnesota Department of Human Services inspector general in the brand new DHS office of inspector general.
Every year DHS pays out nearly $11 billion for a range of programs including Medicaid, food security, child care support and a batch of other programs.
Kerber's estimate is somewhere between four to ten percent of the Medicaid money, which accounts for $9 billion annually, is misspent or fraudulently obtained.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
The culprits?
All kinds of folks, including some who just make mistakes in submitting claims because the programs are fairly complicated.
But many more run scams and fraud. People and companies who submit claims for, say, Medicaid services provided. Except they never provided them. Or lied about how often. Or are perpetrating some other kind of dodge.
Kerber didn't just fall off the hay wagon. He's a 31-year vet at DHS including fifteen years as head of licensing, so there's a chance he's on to many of the shenanigans perpetrated by the ne'er do wells trying to get their mitts on the taxpayer money.
And he'll have some serious back up. The new OIG office has 150 existing agency staff pulled from various duties and put into the fraud detection and recovery effort.