GOP accuses Walz allies of burying $52M Medicaid fraud report before election

Reported by Fox News. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a GOP candidate for governor, says lawmakers have been denied the full Medicaid fraud report detailing $52M in improper payments, suggesting it is being withheld because of the midterm elections.

Minnesota Republicans are accusing Democrats of keeping lawmakers in the dark for months about a state-commissioned Medicaid assessment that flagged more than $52 million in improper payments, arguing the delay denied them a chance to act on the report’s specific findings during the legislative session before the election.

"Fraud here has exploded under the Walz administration ," Minnesota Republican Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth told Fox News Digital. "Governor Walz has held no one in his entire administration accountable for the level of fraud. It definitely brings into question what is in that report and why are they hiding it?"

The Walz administration hired Optum to conduct a third-party review of Minnesota’s Medicaid program, scrutinizing 14 high-risk services. The report identified more than $52 million in improper payments but cautioned that improper payments do not necessarily constitute "fraud, waste or abuse." The Department of Human Services released a heavily redacted version to the public in February, prompting calls from Republican lawmakers to make the full version available so they could address the risks raised during the legislative session.

"Our election here in Minnesota is 29 days away. We’re just four weeks out, and you really have to wonder why they are refusing to do this," Demuth, who is the GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News Digital.

WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES