Minnesota Republicans are criticizing Democrats for not informing them about a Medicaid assessment that discovered over $52 million in questionable payments. They argue that the lack of timely communication deprived them of the chance to address the findings during the recent legislative session, particularly with elections approaching.
“Fraud has surged under the Walz administration,” stated Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota Republican Speaker of the House. “Governor Walz hasn’t held anyone accountable for this level of fraud. It raises questions about the report’s content and why there’s a push to keep it under wraps.”
The Walz administration commissioned Optum to perform an independent review of Minnesota’s Medicaid program, focusing on 14 high-risk services. While the report did highlight over $52 million in improper payments, it warned that this doesn’t always equate to “fraud, waste or abuse.” A heavily redacted version of the report was released by the Department of Human Services in February, leading Republican lawmakers to demand access to the complete version to better tackle concerns raised in the report.
Currently, Minnesota’s legislature is split, with the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) holding a narrow 34–33 majority in the Senate and an unusual 67–67 tie in the House.
In October 2025, Governor Walz announced the audit, prior to allegations of large-scale fraud involving Minnesota’s Somali community, which gained national attention. The ongoing scrutiny of the administration’s handling of these fraud allegations intensified political pressure before Walz opted to cease his re-election campaign in January.
Republican state Senator Jordan Rasmusson accused the Walz administration and Democrats of downplaying the fraud issue in Minnesota. “It’s challenging for elected Democrats here to acknowledge the scale of the fraud problem and take responsibility for it,” he noted.
The Department of Human Services defended the decision to redact details in the report, stating it aimed to protect Optum’s trade secrets and safeguard sensitive information that could be exploited by criminals.
In April, Rasmusson attempted to introduce an amendment for the full report to be made public, but it was rejected along party lines. A version of his provision was later included in a broader budget package passed in May.
According to state law, the DHS is required to share initial Optum reports with members of a legislative committee overseeing human services policy and finance when requested by the committee chair and the ranking minority member. Lawmakers are allowed to review the report but cannot publicly disclose nonpublic information.
Rasmusson indicated that he had asked for the complete report in June, while State Representative Mohamud Noor, DFL, and former GOP House co-chair Joe Schomacker made their requests in May. Yet, the report was only made available to a limited group of lawmakers recently.
“I’m glad it’s finally out, but it’s disappointing we couldn’t have addressed it sooner,” said Republican state Representative Dawn Gillman, emphasizing that solutions will have to wait until January.
“The key takeaway is that the Walz administration could’ve given us access to this months ago,” Rasmusson commented. “Legislative Democrats could have allied with Republicans to secure this information much earlier.”
However, state Senator John Hoffman, DFL, who now has access to the report, disagreed with the need for lawmakers to have the complete report to make significant changes. “This report talks about vulnerabilities in public programs. Why would we make it public before addressing those vulnerabilities? We wouldn’t let the world know which banks forget to lock their doors,” he stated.
Hoffman continued, “We focused on enacting laws to ensure high-quality services and protect against fraud. After reviewing the report, I can say it’s already outdated, and the issues it highlights have been addressed by new laws we passed this year.”
Yet Rasmusson, having also reviewed the report, contended that it highlights ongoing systemic failures in the Walz administration to safeguard Minnesota from fraud. “Be it issues with determining eligibility for programs or whether services are being actually provided, Minnesota is lagging behind in maintaining program integrity,” he added.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services confirmed that a select group of lawmakers now had access to the report. “We appreciate legislators’ interest in receiving the unredacted Optum report,” stated DHS Temporary Commissioner John Connolly. “In line with the law passed last session, the DHS released the Optum reports last week.”
