Minnesota state Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Marys Point) wants to see accountability in the growing Department of Human services overpayments scandal.
“The problems at the Minnesota Department of Human Services continue to be uncovered,” Housley said in a press release. “Earlier this month, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing to investigate $29 million in overpayments to Minnesota tribal nations, as well as an audit that found the department may have violated the law hundreds of times.”
Overall, Housley estimates that federal violations could have cost the state hundreds of millions.
Minnesota state Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Marys Point)
“That is totally and absolutely unacceptable,” she said. “...Public confidence in this particular state agencies has rapidly eroded.”
Housley said lawmakers plan to continue monitoring the situation and hope at some point that the governor will get involved.
“I am calling on the governor to take swift and immediate action to ensure these breaches of the public trust do not continue and the people responsible are held accountable,” she said.
Meanwhile, Housley continues to work with other lawmakers in pushing the Minnesota Insulin Patient Assistance Program, which strives to make the medicine available and affordable for all state residents in need.
The plan would work by establishing a program to provide free insulin to anyone at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
“Our plan builds on the reforms passed and signed into law during the 2019 legislative session,” Housley said. “We passed a bill that requires health plans to lower the price so it does not exceed the net price of the prescription drug, meaning the health plans cannot make a profit on the sale of insulin."
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