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Minnesota Lt. Gov. and Democratic Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan is set to attend a fundraiser hosted by an individual who has served as the state’s Medicaid medical director during a time period where Medicaid fraud exploded onto the national scene.
Dr. Nathan Chomilo has served as Minnesota’s Medicaid medical director since January 2020 and is listed as one of the hosts of an October 1 fundraiser supporting Flanagan, first reported by Townhall’s Dustin Grage.
Much of Minnesota’s broader fraud scandal has centered on Medicaid-funded programs, including autism services and Housing Stabilization Services, and although Chomilo was not the official responsible for processing payments, investigating fraud or overseeing the department’s program-integrity operations, the optics of Flanagan associating with him is sparking skepticism about Flanagan’s commitment to tackling the fraud issue.
“Apparently, the people who were supposed to be watching the money are too busy raising it for Peggy Flanagan,” Grage posted on X. “This should raise some serious red flags.”
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Minnesota Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan appeared in a hijab on Somali TV as the state reels from a massive fraud scandal tied to a Somali-run nonprofit. (Somali TV Minnesota)
“Things that make you go hmm… ,” Chuck Darrell, former communications director at Minnesota Family Council posted on X.
“The number one thing going on with Minnesota’s Medicaid program has been fraud over the last eight years of the Walz Flanagan administration,” Minnesota Republican State Rep. Kristin Robbins told Fox News Digital. “So he must have been aware. He must have known and clearly he had oversight responsibilities. He probably should have been held accountable for what was going on in the program and instead he’s raising money for Penny Peggy Flanigan.”
“It just shows her disdain for the taxpayers,” Robbins, the chair of the last legislative session’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, continued, adding that Flanagan has “shown time and again disdain for Minnesotans who aren’t on board with her radical agenda and this is just another example of that.”
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Chomilo was highlighted in an online profile in 2023, as warning signs were surfacing about potential Medicaid fraud in the state, as a healthcare professional who was focused on ” incorporating community collaboration and racial equity into Minnesota’s Medicaid policy development.”
“Communities experiencing inequities in health and opportunity due to structural racism know what they need but often policymakers fail to incorporate their lived experience,” Chomilo said. “By prioritizing policy development through a racial equity lens and implementing it through a community co-created process, Minnesota Medicaid is building racial equity into the core of the health care system. “
On his LinkedIn page, Chomilo has called for ICE to be defunded, promoted a boycott of Target for ending DEI, and lamented ” Zionism in medicine today” in a recent Instagram post.
Robbins told Fox News Digital that “clearly” Flanagan is “aligning herself with the most radical wing of the Democratic party on health care and that is what she will bring to the US Senate.”
Nick Puglia, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Regional Press Secretary told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Peggy Flanagan let fraudsters steal at least $9 billion from Minnesotans. Fundraising with those who perpetuated it is like handing lighter fluid to the arsonist who burned the house down.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Flanagan campaign and Chomilo’s office for comment.
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Michele Tafoya is interviewed by Fox News Digital as she launches a Republican Senate campaign in Minnesota (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Polling shows that fraud is one of the top issues on the minds of voters heading into the November election, where Flanagan will face off against Republican Michele Tafoya.
Tafoya has consistently hit Flanagan on fraud, citing the Democrat serving alongside Walz as his top lieutenant since 2019 as the fraud scandal unfolded.
“I am appalled by the fraud that has occurred,” Flanagan told Fox 9 Minneapolis in August.
“Minnesotans are upset about it. They’re angry and I am too. I can tell you that this administration has taken steps. There’s a new office of inspector general that was passed this last legislative session. We’ve added staff to the attorney general’s office to root out Medicaid fraud. And, there was an aggressive action of shutting down a program that was being utilized by criminals. I think more absolutely needs to be done.”
