In his latest action targeting Minnesota fraud, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said his agency would delay paying $91 million in Medicaid claims to the state.
“This is about protecting patients and respecting taxpayers,” Oz said in a video posted April 30 on X, announcing the decision.
The money being withheld includes “$76 million tied to 14 service categories highly vulnerable to fraud,” Oz wrote on X. The remaining deferred payments—$14 million—could potentially have been directed “towards illegal immigrants who weren’t supposed to be getting this coverage,” he stated in the video.
The most recent amounts are on top of an initial $259 million the agency halted in February amid the North Star State’s ongoing fraud scandals.
Minnesota sued Oz’s agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over that decision, but earlier this month a federal court refused to unfreeze the funds as the litigation continues.
Oz said he notified Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials before going public with his most recent decision. The Epoch Times sought comment from Walz but received no reply prior to publication.
Minnesota’s fraud scandals drew widespread attention in late 2025. Since then, President Donald Trump has ratcheted up fraud investigations across the nation. Trump appointed Vice President JD Vance to head an anti-fraud task force and the Justice Department formed a National Fraud Enforcement Division.
Oz’s new Minnesota funding freeze comes two days after agents raided 22 Minnesota sites in connection with fraud investigations.
The state’s issues with the defrauding of its public programs follow “a pattern we can’t ignore,” Oz said.
“Minnesota’s Medicaid program has shown serious vulnerabilities to fraud,” Oz wrote. “These are not isolated breakdowns—they point to systemic issues that must be addressed.”
The federal government funds roughly half of Medicaid, he wrote, which gives his agency “the authority and the responsibility to ensure those dollars are spent legally and appropriately.”
Medicaid will refuse to pay “bad bills,” he said, adding that Minnesota is therefore being asked to provide more documentation to justify payment of the requested funds. “When something doesn’t look right, we investigate; it’s our job.”
Oz said his agency is providing “as much support as we can” to help Walz “turn this around.”
Earlier this year, following months of nationwide attention on Minnesota’s fraud-plagued programs, Walz asked state lawmakers to enact what he called “a comprehensive anti-fraud package.”
In an April 17 newsletter, Minnesota Rep. Kristin Robbins, who chairs the state’s anti-fraud legislative committee, said she remains concerned that officials with two key state agencies have continued to testify that “they don’t think anyone who fails to do their job will be fired.”
“Instead, they talked about how they will provide additional training and support,” Robbins said.
Robbins is running as a Republican gubernatorial candidate to replace Walz, who withdrew his reelection bid amid the scandals. She wrote that she supports a few of Walz’s fraud-prevention ideas, including upgrading computer systems that are used to verify eligibility for government benefits. She also agrees with Walz that the time limits for prosecuting fraud crimes should be extended beyond the current six years. Walz proposed a one-year extension, Robbins said, but she proposed a bill calling for an additional four years so that prosecutors could move forward with charges a decade after the alleged offenses.
“The most important element in preventing fraud is creating a no fraud, no excuses culture,” Robbins wrote.
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