Last week, the state Attorney General’s office reported,
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) charged Jessica Jean Arneson with seven felony theft offenses for stealing more than $185,000 while working as a Medicaid care coordinator for Mower County.
Arneson formerly worked for Mower County as a Medicaid case manager. Apparently, Arneson received a share of money billed to the state as a sort-of commission to cover her time spent working on cases. She is accused of over billing the state by the $186,000, for services not used, and personally pocketed $69,000 as “wages.” The perverse incentives should be obvious to anyone.
The alleged scam took place between 2020 and 2023. In the press release, the AG’s office boasts of the work of its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU),
Since 2019, Minnesota’s MFCU has secured more than 340 convictions for Medicaid fraud and has won $90 million in judgments and recoveries.
“Judgments” are worthless unless and until they are converted into recoveries. With Medicaid fraud since 2019 estimated in the billions of dollars, were going to need thousands of convictions before Minnesota starts making a dent in the problem.
The Austin (MN) Daily Herald reports that Arneson will make her first court appearance on August 13 in Rochester.
