Hour 3: J&S Action Therapy, LLC

Jon shares a story about his own unnecessary medical costs as an example of increasing medical costs. Jon exposes a clerical error causing questionable payments and covers a story about thieves targeting immigrants. Jon tries to pitch a suspicious business idea to Sam.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Our three Twin City's News Talk Am eleven thirty one
oh three five FM streaming on.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
The iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Your Talkback's brought to you by Lindahl Realty as we
broadcast from the sixty five to one carpet plus Next
Day Install studios. If you needed another example of why
all of what we've been talking about on the show
this morning, relating to the shutdown snap benefits Supreme Court

(00:37):
Justice rulings, activist judges rulings pay your people their snap No,
you can't, now, it's against the law. If you needed
another example of how all of this is pure political
theater perpetuated by Democrats at a time where they do
not have a party platform, They do not have a

(00:57):
leader to point to, They have no voice of reason
out there, and the best voice of reason they have
are individuals like John Fetterman. You probably haven't heard about
this relating to m Health Fairview United Healthcare contract disputes.
This could impact some one hundred and twenty five thousand

(01:18):
patients here in Minnesota, and you're probably not even aware,
but if you have United Healthcare or UMR plans, this
could dramatically impact you because it essentially would end up
taking m health Fairview out of your in network provider

(01:38):
and making them an out of network provider. I've been
down this road before, through my own fault. By the way,
I've had this circumstance happen to me. It happened in
a couple That happened back in twenty twenty two. They
can tell you the year.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
It happened in twenty two.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
When I switched over a year to year, as we do.
At the end of the year, you have to go
and choose your healthcare benefits. And I am up switching
mine over to the same plan that I do every year,
but that plan had changed and the one health insurance
provider that I was using, or the hospital that I
was using in my cardiologists and it became out of network.
I didn't know until after I had some procedures done

(02:16):
and there was nothing I could do about it. And
that's exactly what will happen here to some one hundred
and twenty five thousand patients. And yet you don't hear
Walls talking about it, you don't hear Democrats talking about it.
And these are individuals that are going to end up
seeing a massive increase in their payments if this ends
up taking place, and health Fairview has warned patients that

(02:38):
if an agreement isn't reached, they will become an out
of network provider for United Healthcare. As I mentioned you
and our plans. This would start on January first, talking
to Fox nine in a statement, United Healthcare's current contract
demands would force them to make difficult choices. Unfortunately, to

(03:00):
Healthcare's current commercial contract demands that it would force Fairview
to make impossible choices, cutting services, limiting access, impacting our
ability to deliver on our promise to our patients and communities.
Fairview is demanding a more than twenty three percent price
hike for commercial plans that would make it significantly more

(03:20):
expensive than any health system in the Twin Cities. Fairview's
proposal would increase health care costs by approximately one hundred
and twenty one million dollars, which would come out of
operating budgets of local employers. The current commercial contract between
m Health, Fairview and United Healthcare is a five year
agreement that ends this year. You see these types of

(03:42):
agreements in these things. They end for a lot of
different people and entities. This is nothing new, but you
don't see any debate going on. You don't see videos
being posted by State Senator Aaron may Wade and cursing
about this, or Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan cursing about this,
even though it could impact some one hundred and twenty
five thousand patients here in Minnesota who may not even realize.

(04:05):
And you want to talk about being expensive, I mean
not just in terms of what this will end up
constant taking them in and out of network, but if
they're in a situation where they're not aware of this,
and they have procedures that are scheduled and going to
be done and they have to pay for those out
of pocket. Because if you ever have dealt with health insurance,
I don't care what company you work for. Once these

(04:26):
things are they're set, man, there's no going back. Mike Hatch,
attorney and former Attorney General, said, what we're dealing with
here is providers are in a pinch with regard to
the advancements in health care that cost money. Insurers and
third party administrators such as United Healthcare.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Are in a pinch.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Employers are in a significant pinch. Oh, and just wait
until paid family leave gets underway. The outcomes of The
negotiations could have direct impact on patients' health care costs
and access to services. Both companies are seeking support for
their positions. It remains unclear if an agreement will be

(05:11):
reached before the contract expires and what the specific compromises
may be made.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
A better way to.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Put it, stuff happens, I'm in a situation right now
because of this battle that's going on.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
I just mentioned with you on a.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Different level, the cardiologists that I've had the past couple
of years that have really become accustomed to. She knows
the intricacies and the details of what it is that
I've been dealing with since I was thirty seven years old.
She ended up having to leave because I'm with m
Health Fairview. She ended up having to leave to go
someplace else. So now I'm forced to go in and

(05:51):
do an extra visit with a new cardiologist just so
i can get my prescriptions refilled, even though I've already
met with my cardiologists this year. I've already had all
my yearly testing. But now I'm going to be forced,
and I am being forced this Friday to go in
to see a new cardiologist because my cardiologist is leaving
through all of this, was is gonna cost me, you know,

(06:14):
easily even with the insurance, a couple hundred bucks for
no reason.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Stuff happens, but.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Only when it is politically viable for Democrats does anybody
ever go and give a rip. Let's go here, we
were talking last hour and last week, Representative Pam Altendorth
took to social media highlighting how Minnesota, over the course

(06:46):
of a few years right around COVID saw one hundred
and seventy four percent increase in SNAPA issuance. Federal SNAP
issuance in Minnesota reached more than one point five billion
dollars in fiscal year twenty twenty three, nearly triple the
number from four years earlier. Altendorf said the size and

(07:08):
speed of the increase should raise alarms. When you see
an increase in a program expense by more than one
billion in four years, especially in this state, it just
reeks of another potential undiscovered fraud. It's time to investigate
why SNAP issuances rose so dramatically and who is receiving

(07:29):
these funds. Now, I'm working off of a version here
from Alphinous and as we mentioned last week, you had
the Trump Agriculture Secretary Brook Rawlins, directing states to provide
detail SNAP benefits. Many states refused to, including Minnesota. Rollins
said that investigators identified individuals receiving benefits in multiple states

(07:52):
and found about five thousand deceased individuals still listed as
active recipients. We found one, she said, in six different
states getting benefits, So who's getting all that money? Minnesota
did not provide the Trump administration with the requested SNAP

(08:13):
recipient files. According to Altendorf, states that have provided their
data have already uncovered fraud and corrected errors. Minnesota, she said,
remains in the dark. Representative Harry nisk agreed on social media,
saying at this point, Minnesotan should be concerned about the
ramp and fraud in every program administered by the incompetent

(08:37):
Walls administration. Attorney General Keith Ellison and twenty one other
state attorneys filed a lawsuit in July arguing the USDA's
data demand is unconstitutional. They sued Trump for asking for information,
saying that it would expose some four hundred thousand Minnesotan's

(08:59):
personal information, including social security numbers and home addresses.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Listen, they know.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
That this lawsuit was completely frivolous, but they crafted it
in such a way to how and to where they
can go and make an argument saying, oh, you can't
trust the Trump administration social Security numbers, home addresses.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
You never know what they're going to do. Ice may
show up at your door. I'm just giving some hypotheticals now.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Because Pam Altendorf raised the question, it did prompt the
state to respond, and on Friday they said that, oh,
it was reporting errors that led to what appeared to
be the dramatic spike in federal food benefit payouts in
recent years.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
So errors were made.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
The agency that administered the program in Minnesota issued an
explanation saying, according to the federal data, snap payouts nearly tripled,
jumping from ten one hundred and twenty five million to
one point nine billion. Despike marked the largest jump nationwide.

(10:06):
The nearly two billion total state about the same in
twenty twenty two, before dropping by about four hundred million
in twenty twenty three, the most recent year of the
data was available, so the explanation. In a statement, the
Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families said the DCYF
has reviewed the federal reports submitted to the USDA Minnesota

(10:31):
mistakenly included pandemic EBT in FNS DASH forty six submission,
which is the basis for the numbers in the snap
State Activities Report. Not only was the pandemic EBT included,
it was included on two lines of the report in
a way that double counted the expenditures. We look forward

(10:54):
to revising these reports with FNS when the federal government
shutdown ends. Let me stop he real quick. I'll share
with you some more details from this, but I have
more questions now. So if they're only just now finding it, so,
was money cut or was money not cut? Was money
spent or was money not spent?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
And what other.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Budgets were affected based off of these errors?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Doing that thing with my fingers.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
It seems to me that while this might be a
plausible excuse, it does, as I mentioned, raise a host
of other questions as to what were the unintended consequences
of these errors relating to the total budget here in
the state of Minnesota. We'll get to some of your
comments coming up. Oh new fraud too, company build medicaid
for client it never met.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
I'll give you details of this coming.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Up here on Twidnesday's News Talk AM eleven thirty and
one h three five FM. State blames reporting errors for
outside SNAP payout figures. SNAP payouts nearly tripled, jumping from
about two hundred and excuse me, seven hundred and twenty

(12:11):
five million to one point nine billion. Spike marked the
largest jomp nationwide. Twin Cities news Talk from the sixty
five to one carpet Next Day install studios and a
statement the Minnesota Department of Children and Youth Families said
they reviewed the federal reports and that Minnesota mistakingly included

(12:33):
pandemic EBT in its submission, which was the basis for
the numbers and why they had ballooned so largely. Not
only was pandemic EBT included, it was included on two
lines of the report in a way that double counted
those expenditures. Let's get to a few of your thoughts.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
It wasn't an excuse, John, They just had to come
up with enough time figure out how to make up
a lie. Seventy of food stamp recipients and SNAP recipients
across the United States are illegal aliens.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
They went on to say, fraud, waste, and abuse is
incredibly rare and snap oh. People got to be careful
with they Micchol's comments. Unfortunately, what is more common is
thieves stealing benefits by skimming EBT cards at point of
sale terminals they've tampered with.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
That's is random. We weren't talking about that.

Speaker 4 (13:33):
Now.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
They do say the reporting errors do not mean the
taxpayer dollars were mistakenly doled out. It means that the
state incorrectly tallied the numbers. Although I do find it
rather interesting the way that was worded. It doesn't necessarily
mean the taxpayer dollars were mistakingly dolled out. It just
means that they were incorrectly tallied. Well, is that a guarantee.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
That they weren't Those dollars weren't doled out anyway.

Speaker 5 (14:00):
Having been a former state employee, I'm pretty much guessing
when you asked about that was something with a check cut.
I believe if it's sun two lines, it was cut twice,
so two checks went out for the same money.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
The state said it does not know yet what the
correct figures are. Well, they do say they planned to
submit corrected figures to the Department of Agriculture, which over
sneeze oversees snap when the government shut down ends, as
it's government shutdown is so convenient for Democrats on all

(14:39):
of these various issues.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Speaking of those here illegally, this comes from Channel five.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Three Minnesotans accused of targeting and defrauding immigrants at Twin
Cities area churches are now facing criminal charges. Prosecutors last
week charge day forty eight year old Luis Baltasar Levilla
Quino and forty year old Kira Milania Romero Pinto, both
of Lakeville, as well as forty year old Lake Elmo

(15:08):
resident Dennis Rigoberto Aquino Martinez. They were all charged with
multiple counts of theft by swindle. Pinto faces twelve charges,
easily the most of the defendants also charged with racketeering.
Washington County authorities say the trio would seek out Spanish

(15:30):
speaking immigrants at local churches, mentioned their connection to a
fake attorney named Isabella Jason, and offered them legal services, jobs,
and expedited citizenship in exchange for payments that totaled thousands
of dollars. Court documents note that most of the victims
were contacted by the defendants at churches in Invergrove Heights.

(15:53):
And Woodbury, including a pastor in one of the cities
between twenty three and twenty five. That pastor told police
that he gave Pinto nearly thirty thousand dollars in the
summer of twenty twenty four after she promised to help
several members of the parish get jobs. This is another

(16:15):
great example, and I say great from a tragic kind
of way, so don't misunderstand, but it's another example of
the impacts of illegal immigration and lacks enforcement of immigration laws.
If you do the compassionate thing which the Trump administration
has been doing, stopping the influx of those coming into

(16:39):
the country here here illegally across our southern border, protect
our southern border to the best of our ability, you know,
as the United States, can do, enforce our existing immigration
laws and take away the incentive of people to come
here illegally, then you have less opportunity where these individuals
are going to be taken in advantage of by the

(17:01):
horrible element out there. He added that on top of
that thirty thousand dollars, that she also offered to sell
him a twelve thousand dollars golden card that would give
him the ability to get to people US citizenship. Other
victims paid over forty thousand dollars to help with the

(17:22):
immigration process, which they never received. But you wonder why
individuals and how an individual can fall for the email
ruse of the guy in Saudi Arabia, the prince who
needs you to go transfer money and you can keep
a portion of it. And I present to you the
details of this story. When the pastor realized what was

(17:47):
happening this past July, the charging documents state the trio
went to his church and pressured him not to tell
anybody about their scheme, threatening that they could call police or.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Ice if he did.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
In total, prosecutors say the defendants defrauded at least twenty
five people of five hundred and sixty three seven hundred dollars.
Each count faces a maximum sentence of at least ten
years in prison. Thank goodness they were caught in Washington

(18:22):
County and not Hennepin County, because Mary Moriarty probably would
already have him out on the streets. Your talk back
of the day brought to you by Minnie Leaf coming
up in just a moment here on Twin Cities News Talk,
and I have an article out of the Minneapolis Times.
Some parts of Minneapolis really do have crime. I'm gonna

(18:43):
share with you the details from this. I cannot even
imagine living life the way that some people have to
in the city of Minneapolis, and yet they continue to
elect the same individuals over and over again. It's all
coming up on Twin City's News Talk. Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
The Democrats is.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
They took crime off the front page of every newspaper,
that was the story, and they turned it into healthcare.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
That was MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Speaking truth for once. He's absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Everything that we've been dealing with for the past forty
days has been nothing but political theater perpetuated by Democrats
to sow chaos and discord. I listen, to a certain extent,
it worked. They had some electoral success last week. Caused
a lot of confusion and panic, offered opportunities for individuals

(19:52):
to take to social media, like Senator Aaron make Way
to go and comment on the issue here on Twin
Cities News Talk as we continue our broadcast from the
sixty five to one carpet Next Day Install Studios.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
I don't generally make videos with advice for national Democrats
because the ones that I talk to that I'm close to,
that I can influence, like I tell them, probably, and.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Then the ones that I could like.

Speaker 6 (20:14):
Talk to in the public, they don't give you what
i'd say, But I will say that if we did
a whole shut down to extend the ACA subsidies and
then all you get is a promise to take a
vote on it, that's insane, Like it's actually insane.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
So I don't know, like not groundbreaking.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
But what the got to thank leftists of MN on
X for providing that clip.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
I almost feel bad for Aaron May Wait.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
I didn't realize it the first time, and now that
I listened back to it, maybe she wasn't aware that
it was all political theater and actually thought that Democrats
in DC legitimately cared about extending the ACA benefits.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Because they never really did listen. That's on her if
that's the case.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
The same thing goes with Lieutenant Governor Peggy flanagain.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Hey, so the.

Speaker 7 (21:07):
Fact that a handful of Democratic senators just walked away
from a fight we were winning to keep healthcare costs
from skyrocketing for millions of Americans and capitulating to Donald
Trump and Congressional Republicans.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
It sucks, and we.

Speaker 7 (21:26):
Deserve so much more, especially when we saw victories up
and down the ballot all across the country. People were
with us, and then this is not okay. So it
is time for you to pick your fighter.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, and your fighter guys.

Speaker 7 (21:46):
Accordingly, because we deserve so much more than this.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Boot.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Also on a second pass through that I just didn't
pick up on this last time.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
But the way she framed the.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
The elections last week, I mean, it was only a
handful of races.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
It wasn't There wasn't like, this wasn't a massive election.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
It doesn't matter, all right, I don't want to get
too far behind here. We do have to get to
your talkback of the day. Your talk Back of the
day is brought to you by Mini Leaf am I
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at the website, including the night Gummies. I swear by
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(22:30):
Absolute game changer, and they do give you your talkback
of the day.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Morning, John, Let's not forget to wish the United States
Marine Corps a happy two hundred and fiftieth birthday today.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Absolutely happy birthday, and thank you for the talkback. This
morning again brought to you by minileafanminileaf dot com. We
do have a runner up that came in from overnight
from friend of the show.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Ben John, Ben and Rochester here got a small bone
to pick with you. I'd say, don't play it on
the radio, but maybe you should because you haven't talked
about the Embark series recently, and I dove into it
because I've listened to you over the years, and I
got to tell.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
You I love the series. Oh thank you.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
But this idea that selling books is hard doesn't match.
I went back to buy the second one and accidentally
about the eighth, which means I bought the eighth in
the second is selling books hard?

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Well, if everybody goes and makes mistakes like Ben, then
selling books would be a heck of a lot easier
technically speaking.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
And I'm going to go there. Thank you, Ben.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
I'm really glad you enjoyed the series. I am the
worst salesperson ever, and selling books is hard. This is
why I will never work in sales, because I'm just
really bad at it. There isn't an eighth book in
the series. What Ben ended up purchasing was There is
an ebook box set of all seven of the books
that are available for a discount of price.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
That is book eight in the series. There's only seven
books in the series, but that's the eighth book. I
got you There you go, Sandwich very confused in the
studio next door. So all right, let's go here to
Cara Levin. Keep in mind.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
The level of concern that you hear from all these
democrats regarding individuals not getting their snap benefits, the shut down,
people in need being taken advantage of the healthcare subsidies.
And yet how much fraud have we covered in the
course of this year alone on the show, estimates of
six billion dollars. You don't see the videos going up

(24:30):
from flannagain or from Quaid, or comments from walls worried
about what's happening, and yet all these stories still continue.
They only care when they can use it for politics.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
What started as a routine check of her medicaid billing
turned into a shocking discovery for Erna Hammered Schmidt. The
Minnesota woman had rebuilt her life after a prolonged battle
with addiction, only to find her name being used to
commit what she calls is fraud. Ernest said, I was

(25:08):
looking at my claims and I saw a company called
Community Care Partners in there, and I was like, who
were these people? The company she'd never heard of or
met with, was billing her Medicaid insurance coverage provided through
you Care one hundred and eighty nine dollars multiple times

(25:29):
a week, claiming to have provided adult rehabilitative mental health services.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
Now.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
The ARMHS is a program overseen by the unbattled Minnesota
Department of Human Services, already facing sharp criticism for failing
to prevent wide spread fraud and taxpayer funded programs designed
to help people battling addiction and homelessness. You know, a
real governor would have just completely upended DHS at this

(25:57):
point in time and replaced every single person in it.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
A real leader would. If that's not what we have
in Governor Tim Walls.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
The ARMHS program provides a range of services to help
individuals develop and enhance psychiatric stability, social competencies, personal and
emotional adjustment, and independent living and community skills. Every single
one of these programs, they just have these incredibly broad,

(26:33):
nuanced language relating to what they provide, which pretty much
means they can justify providing anything and billing for it
now when it comes to Erna Hammerschmidt, two years sober,
Proud to be a success a story of Minnesota's publicly
funded rehabilitation and Housing Stabilization Services program, which helped her

(26:56):
findable stability and a home. So she would have been
one of the few individual rules that actually successfully took
advantage of a program that no longer exists because it
was almost one hundred percent fraud. Apart from Erna, apparently,
she watched with concern as the investigations exposed a seemingly

(27:20):
endless case of alleged fraud in these programs that.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Helped her throughout her recovery journey.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
The HSS program that found her a place to live
was completely terminated last week. As I mentioned, the state
decided that they were unable to prevent fraud and could
not afford to wait to see if the legislative reforms
and the new program integrity measures would be effective. She
not alone in questioning the alleged to ghost of billing
by the arm HS providers easier way for me to

(27:47):
say it. Caro Levin recently exposed similar allegations of billing
fraud involving another company called Action Therapy LLC.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
That sounds totally legit.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Their billing, said Mohammad Ali, who spotted thousands of dollars
in charges on his Medicaid account. Never been there before,
never even heard of it. So who are Community Care Partners?
Charge after charge, week after week, month after month earned
his Medicaid insurance had been billed repeatedly by Community Care Partners,

(28:26):
supposedly for providing the arms HS. The inside the building
sweet three twelve, there were small signs taped to the
door in a mailbox with the company's name, but no
people during regular business hours. No one answered the door. Online,
the company's website looked equally hollow. Eate me to our team,
doing nothing with my fingers page contained no actual names

(28:49):
or photos, just a line reading find us at your
working location. According to records posted by the Minnesota Secretary
of State's website, registered manager was a woman named Muna Mohammed.
When contacted by Kara Levin, Muna Mohammad said she was
no longer affiliated with the business and sold it in
December of twenty twenty three. She provided Care eleven a

(29:12):
copy of the sales records confirming that Community Care Partners
had been purchased for sixty thousand dollars by a group
of three buyers. You had Habit Sharif Musab Abu dhal
Kadir and Mohammad Mohammad. The ownership change took place before
the suspicious billings. Earned A discovered when she reviewed her

(29:35):
insurance claims. Records show her billings were part of a
dramatic increase in the company's overall Medicaid charges. I mean listen, rinse,
you know, lather, rinse, repeat on all of these different
fraud charges State Medicate Medicaid Billing data obtained through the
investigation and an open records request revealed that after the sale,

(29:57):
the company immediately experienced explode financial growth. It shows the
Community Care.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Partners charged arm HS.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Twenty thousand dollars in twenty twenty two, ten thousand dollars
in twenty twenty three, but in twenty twenty four, after
the sale, the billing skyrocketed seven thousand percent to more
than seven hundred and eighteen thousand dollars average. Sam, you
want to go partners in on a on a healthcare

(30:28):
services program. I think I'll pass, but knock yourself out
J and S Action Therapy LLC. Oh my gosh, in
at least Irma Hammerschmid's case, it was tax dollars paid

(30:49):
to a company for imaginary services. What you're doing is
not morally or ethically okay. Ernest said, you can't just
build people and make money off them and look at
them like a paycheck.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Caro Levin submitted questions to the.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
To DHS whether Community Care Partners was under investigation and
whether they were being allowed to continue building the States
Medicaid programs. The department did not directly answer the questions,
but send a statement in part saying DHS it's expanding
its use of data analytics to look at trends and
outliers in provider billing.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
They went on to say a whole bunch of other stuff.
Fascinating to talk, Yeah, exactly sortly.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Thereafter, Governor Tim Walls announced that in order to better
catch the fraud on the front end, as we've talked
about on the show, DHS run Medicaid programs will be
subject to third party billing audits before payments are issued.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Maybe you should have been doing that in the first place.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Might have been a good idea. And with all of
this too, this is only the stuff that we've discovered.
I mean, how many other programs out there. I mean,
which program isn't filled with fraud at this point in time.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
It's across the board.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
I mean, whether you're looking at these programs that are
straight up stealing from taxpayers through these different government programs, Medicaid, DHS,
turning a blind eye not caring, or the story that
we had earlier of individuals out there taking advantage of
the illegal immigrant community and pastors at churches. It's almost
like we have this systemic problem relating to fraud.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Here in the state of Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Turning our attention over to the City of Minneapolis. Just
as an update from the election results from last week,
the progressive wing of the Minneapolis City Council will keep
its majority, but lose its ability to override the mayor's
vetos in his next term. The political makeup of the
incoming colouncil will likely allow Mayor Jacob Fry to avoid

(33:03):
the kind of pushback on his power that shaped the
last two years the progressive arm.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Working off of a story here from Fox nine.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
The progressive arm of the Minneapolis City Colouncil lost a
seat last week when the incumbent Katie Cashman lost her
re election bid in Ward seven to newcomer and moderate
Elizabeth Schaeffer. The loss of a progressive voice leaves that
wing of the clouncil without the ability to override the
mayor ol Vito Well.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Listen, that assumes that Schaeffer doesn't.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Cave to the radical socialists, which the other non DSA
endorsed candidates have all done in the past. You know,
is Elizabeth Shafer Schaeffer going to buck the current trend
and that is going out to the public acting like
you're a more moderate Democrat, showing your concern over what's
been taking place in Minneapolis, only to get elected and

(33:56):
then to go and just vote in lockstep with a
hard core left radical socialists.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
I'm certainly not.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Holding my breath on that particular issue. I mean, it's
nice of Fox and nine to assume that they've lost
their radical majority, but again, I just simply have no
faith or trust in any Democrat politician right now, to
tell the truth. A string of breaking thefts over the

(34:26):
weekend left dozens of people with a headache and a
bill in Minneapolis's Lowry Hill neighborhood some residents are calling
on city leaders to take more action to address the issue.
Residents in the area said it feels like nothing is
being done to stop the break ins because people rarely
get caught.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
It just keeps happening. At about two or three.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
In the morning, I heard a car alarm alarms going off,
so I looked outside, said Krishna u Varjah, who lives nearby.
When she stepped outside, she saw dozens of car windows
smashed along Fremont Avenue South, with a trail of shattered
glass lining the street. Minneapolis Police say they responded to

(35:08):
the property damage call around five forty five am after
finding several vehicles in the area with broken windows. All
the way down to the church, every single window was
bust out, said Christina Sward, who lives in the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Back in November, more than one hundred.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Vehicles were damaged across the city, with the thieves taking
valuables from inside. I mean, was anything even stolen or
was just just random violence taking place? Minneapolis Times has
this piece I want to share. It's a lengthy piece.
I just want to share with you some some of
the details from it.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I just.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know, what's going on, but when you hear it
happen firsthand, it's it's it's stunning to read and to
listen to.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
In your neighborhood.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Have you ever kept a can on your front porch
to deposit the needles found on the street? The title
of this for the Minneapolis Times is some parts of
Minneapolis really do have crime, asking do you have a
can to deposit needles you found? Have you ever had

(36:20):
a conversation with a neighbor on best to practices on
how to keep drug dealers from congregating in front of
your house? A sprinkler going in the going in the
summer that reaches out onto the sidewalk works when you
leave town? Do you worry your house or garage will

(36:41):
be invaded if you park on the street. Are you
nervous every time you approach your car because you may,
as you have in the past, find the passenger side
window busted and your glove compartment rifle through, as we
were just talking about in Lowry Hill.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
If you have lived near an encampment, have you at.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Times had to shovel up human waste in your driveway
or had your garbage containers tagged by the city for
inappropriate waste for which you were not responsible. Have you
been told over the phone by a service person that
they do not send their installers to your area? Have
you been menaced by a drug dealer? Have you witnessed

(37:22):
the horrors of addiction on the street? Users walking by,
bent over, yelling at no one, stripping and scratching their skin,
sitting on the sidewalk and just nodding. Do you personally
know a neighbor who's been viciously attacked with a knife,
hard object, or firearm that resulted in a long hospital

(37:43):
stay or death. Were you the victim of such an
attack yourself? Most individuals in Minneapolis living in high crime
neighborhoods could answer yes to all those hassles not reported
in the daily news, and some could tell you about
the more violent ones that do grab the headlines, no
matter the level they are, everyday occurrences, sometimes downright hardships.

(38:12):
The documentary A Precarious State raises the issue of crime
being a problem in Minneapolis. A lot of people have
pushed back saying the crime is not a problem, most
recently Eric Roper in The Star Tribune. In his piece
he talks about his experience living in Minneapolis the lush
urbanity of Minneapolis supplements the pictures of sunflowers and people
lounging along the river bank and talking about loving riding

(38:35):
his bike in a protected bike lane on a beautiful,
warm day. And while this may be Roper's experience, it's
not mine, says the article writer, nor the experience of
people in much of the city. I wish I was
among the majority living in the city who never knew
anyone who was murdered. But I have personally known four.

(38:57):
Crime in my part of the city is far less
than six degrees of separation from my neighbors.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
I can't even fatherly.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Living in an environment like that, my family children having
to live in an environment like that, And yet unfortunately
it's a commonplace for the city of Minneapolis, and unfortunately
with voters did very little to change anything regarding the
outcome of getting a grip on any of that. Thank

(39:29):
you for hanging out on today's show, candidate Adam Schwarze
in studio also Devid Gartenstein Rossill be joining us Talk
AI at six point thirty. If you miss any portion
of today's show, you can check out the podcast. Sam
has those available shortly up on the iHeart or radio app.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your Monday. Stay warm,
and I'll talk to you guys tomorrow morning, right around six.

(39:50):
So five have a great one back.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Man.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
What's called a Trump during