Top health policy expert calls Minnesota fraud ‘disgusting,’ warns Obamacare issues are nationwide

By Fox News · Fox News

Minnesota’s burgeoning social services fraud scandal is "disgusting," and emblematic of a broader nationwide crisis, a former National Economic Council health policy official told Fox News Digital. Brian Blase, president of the federal spending-focused Paragon Health Institute, said in a Friday interview that fraud has become pervasive throughout such publicly funded programs, and that a lot of the time, funds mismanaged by state officials are often federally sourced – meaning the entire nation can be hurt by one state’s scandal. "It is disgusting," he said when asked about the alleged Minnesota scandals. "But it is pervasive throughout government programs." LOEFFLER: VAST NETWORK OF SOMALI NONPROFITS RIPPED OFF MINNESOTA’S WELFARE STATE "Federal taxpayers that are paying for the poor management, oversight and just disruption at the state and local levels. The Medicaid program in particular, the more states spend, the more money that they get from the federal government," he said. "It's the number-one source of how states get money from Washington." Blase said three-fifths of all federal dollars to state governments come through Medicaid, leading special interests to continue to lobby for more – and states like Minnesota don’t have adequate incentives to follow the money once it gets to them. He previously tweeted that $1 trillion in improper payments have been made in the past 10 years. FBI SURGES RESOURCES TO MINNESOTA AS PATEL CALLS $250M FRAUD SCHEME 'TIP OF ICEBERG' All "the fraud in Minnesota and similar fraud in other states almost certainly isn’t counted in those estimates," he said. Medicaid growth has often come through expansion of services that aren’t directly medical treatments, he said, noting that the funds can now be spent in approved contexts on housing, food and nonemergency transportation. Those "are ripe with waste, fraud or abuse opportunities," he said, as federal prosecutors said in December they estimate at least half of Minnesota’s $18 bill…