Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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About a quarter billion dollars of federal Medicaid funding are temporarily blocked from Minnesota.

Vice President JD Vance and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz announced Wednesday 

that nearly $260 million dollars will be temporarily withheld from Minnesota

 in their crusade against fraud in the state. 

Vance says administration is pausing some Medicaid funding to Minnesota 

Ellie Wilson is the executive director of Autism Society of Minnesota. She said that money is used to not only help low-income families, but help pay for services to keep people with disabilities in school, at their jobs, and even within their communities. 

“It’s absolutely terrifying,” Wilson said. “We have seen cases of deaths; we have seen cases of homelessness caused by services being dropped too quickly.”

She added that many in the disability community are advocates for ousting fraudsters and stopping waste of taxpayer dollars. But Wilson said this is a step too far. 

“We could be using a scalpel and not a hammer, and I could tell you, there would be a ton of support from the disability community to do that,” she said. “That opportunity is not being afforded to us.”

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

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Fraud in Minnesota

Cathy Wurzer

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Lukas Levin

Author

Vice President JD Vance and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, announced millions of dollars will be withheld from Minnesota in an attempt to mitigate supposed fraud. A disability advocate weighs in.

Disability advocates say Medicaid freeze could lead to death, homelessness

Disability advocate says Medicaid freeze could lead to death, homelessness

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