Governor Walz and Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Shireen Gandhi today announced a plan to restructure DHS into a centralized administration model for benefits programs, moving away from the current decentralized model administered by counties and Managed Care Organizations.

Senator Mark Koran (R–North Branch) issued the following statement in response:

“DHS has lost billions to fraud and has failed in delivering social services programs to vulnerable Minnesotans,” said Sen. Koran. “Now Gov. Walz wants to give the agency centralized, unchecked power to administer these programs under the same commissioner who oversaw the fraud explosion and hasn’t even been confirmed by the Senate. He didn’t address fraud for eight years. This is just a hail mary attempt to come back from his disastrous fraud crisis.”

The Governor’s proposal includes three elements:

• Establishing a single statewide Administrative Service Organization responsible for claims processing, financial transactions, and provider services
• Shifting Medicaid eligibility determination from counties to the state
• Funding a study on how human services programs are administered in Minnesota

It’s unclear how much the Governor’s proposal will cost the state or how many county jobs would be impacted by the changes.