Minnesota’s Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) program was created to help Medicaid patients reach doctor appointments. Instead, it has become a runaway taxpayer-funded scandal riddled with fraud, weak oversight, and part of billions in potential waste. It is one of the DHS programs considered by regulators to be “at high risk of fraud.”
In 2025 alone, the program served roughly 250,000 Minnesotans and racked up millions of trips at a cost of $127 million. Yet when the Department of Human Services finally noticed fraud —after NEMT became one of 14 high-risk Medicaid services—billed rides dropped by 64 percent.
While Governor Walz has responded by aggressively restricting the flow of money to these drivers, Minnesota Rep. Sydney Jordan is carrying a bill to increase the money paid per mile to the vendors by 300%. HF3058 actually triples the per mile reimbursement from $0.22 to $0.67.
DHS now has 71 open fraud investigations, has suspended payments to 14 providers, and is pursuing monetary recoveries in five cases. Inspector General James Clark laid out the playbook: “phantom billing” for trips with no matching medical appointment, excess mileage claims, and kickbacks to patients or recruiters. Low barriers to entry—anyone with a vehicle could become a provider—created ghost companies and unverifiable claims. Clark testified on the administration’s attempts to stem the flow of fraud money in areas like NEMT while testifying before a Minnesota legislative panel on March 3rd.
Rep Jordan, for her part has been a fierce opponent of President Trump’s focus on Minnesota fraud within the Somali community in Minnesota. While Youtuber Nick Shirley’s assertions that 90% of NEMT contractors are Somali are not sourced, certainly the implication is that this investigation, like the Feeding our Future scandal will focus on the Somali community.
“I stand with our state’s Somali community and I emphatically reject the disgusting and disingenuous attacks hurled at them by Donald Trump and his far-right cronies.” Jordan said in a December 3rd legislative update, concluding: “They are our neighbors, family members, elected officials, doctors, teachers and more, no matter what lies and bile Donald Trump spews about Minnesota’s Somali community, the simple truth is that our Somali neighbors make our state stronger.”
