ANOKA – Following the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) requiring multiple Minnesota counties to repay close to $9 million in payments due to a state-made error, many county officials have started to actively protest the DHS’s request.
The DHS released a letter this week informing counties that they will each receive an invoice next month from chemical dependency treatment services provided to them since 2014. However, the state had used federal Medicaid matching funds in order to financially support some treatment facilities, which is not an acceptable payment option according to federal law.
When it was learned that the treatment providers did not qualify for state and county reimbursement, the DHS requested funds from the counties now that the department was required to pay for the providers’ care.
“It may be that they are cleaning things up, but the result is that they are really hammering the counties,” St. Louis County Commissioner Frank Jewell said to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This is a mistake that you made; it is not a mistake that we made.”
Three of the state’s largest counties, Hennepin, St. Louis and Dakota, were among those affected. A Dakota County spokeswoman said that it is not looking to pay its $424,000 bill. Anoka County also said it is not paying $442,000 it owes the DHS anytime soon.
The DHS actually knew that problem existed for many years, as it first notified the Legislature in 2016 that the state had to repay the federal government $48 million. This was later increased to $61 million in future bills sent by the DHS. Counties were not informed of this and were only told to pay up roughly two weeks ago.
State Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka said to the Star Tribune that the DHS decision is “unfair" in September.
“When government makes a mistake, government should not ask others to pay for the mistake,” Abeler said.
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