Minnesota Medicaid scandal apparently comes with a fundraising package now

BS BULLETIN:

Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan is scheduled for an Oct. 1 fundraiser co-hosted by Dr. Nathan Chomilo, the state’s Medicaid medical director since 2020.
Chomilo held that position as Minnesota became engulfed in major fraud cases involving Medicaid-funded programs, although his job did not include investigating fraud or processing payments.
Flanagan has said she is “appalled” by the fraud and that Minnesota needs to do more to stop it.

Peggy Flanagan’s campaign is holding a fundraiser next week, and one of the names on the host committee is attracting attention for reasons that have nothing to do with writing checks.

Dr. Nathan Chomilo, Minnesota’s Medicaid medical director since January 2020, is listed as a host of an Oct. 1 fundraiser for Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.

That puts a man who has spent more than six years helping shape Minnesota Medicaid policy alongside a candidate already facing questions over the enormous fraud scandals that unfolded during the Walz-Flanagan administration.

Much of Minnesota’s fraud problem has involved Medicaid-funded services, including autism programs and Housing Stabilization Services.

Fox News reports that Chomilo was not responsible for processing Medicaid payments, investigating suspected fraud or running the department’s program-integrity operation. The report does not accuse him of participating in the fraud.

Republicans are nevertheless questioning the political judgment of having him help host the fundraiser. “Apparently, the people who were supposed to be watching the money are too busy raising it for Peggy Flanagan,” conservative commentator Dustin Grage wrote on X after highlighting the event.

Republican state Rep. Kristin Robbins similarly argued that Chomilo’s position should have made him aware of problems developing within the Medicaid system. Those are political criticisms; Fox reported that neither Flanagan’s campaign nor Chomilo’s office had responded to its requests for comment before publication.

Chomilo has also publicly advocated putting racial equity at the center of Medicaid policymaking. In a 2023 profile quoted by Fox, he said Minnesota was working to build “racial equity into the core of the health care system.”

The fundraiser arrives at a particularly awkward moment for Flanagan.

Just days ago, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services confirmed that two autism-service providers were under investigation, including Milestone Development Center, which is operated by Flanagan’s longtime friend Nimco Ahmed. DHS said both providers had previously been terminated from Medicaid participation through the state’s 2026 revalidation process and had appealed.

Flanagan has said she shares Minnesotans’ anger over the broader fraud problem.

“I am appalled by the fraud that has occurred,” she told Fox 9 in August, pointing to additional inspector-general resources, more staff for the attorney general’s office and the shutdown of a program exploited by criminals.

“I think more absolutely needs to be done,” Flanagan said.

Now one of the people helping raise money for her Senate campaign happens to have spent the last six years inside the Medicaid system at the center of the political storm.

MY QUICK TAKE

Nobody is accusing Chomilo of stealing Medicaid money. That’s important.

But politically, this is an extraordinary choice of moment for Flanagan to have Minnesota’s Medicaid medical director helping host a fundraiser.

When your campaign is already answering questions about what state officials knew while fraud was spreading through government-funded programs, maybe don’t make the next headline begin with “Medicaid director hosting fundraiser.”