From $2.5 Million to $104 Million: How Medicaid Exploded in Minnesota

How did Minnesota’s Medicaid program balloon from $2.5 million to $104 million today?

Join AnneMarie Schieber, managing editor of Health Care News, and Devon Herrick of the Goodman Institute Health Blog as they discuss how fraud in two programs—both aimed at addressing non-medical “social determinants” of health care—has contributed to this explosive growth.

Also in the show: the troubling connection between untreated mental illness and the recent wave of violence and murder-suicides across the country, including incidents in Michigan, New York City, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas, between July 28 and August 11.

• Why weren’t these individuals in institutional care?
• Should privacy laws be loosened so extended families can better monitor and help their loved ones?
• Can Medicaid be revised to provide more flexibility for substance abuse and mental health treatment?
• Should we investigate the link between marijuana use and psychosis?

Helpful resources include the Treatment Advocacy Center and the discussion of outpatient civil commitment in Committed: The Battle over Involuntary Psychiatric Care.

Other topics covered in this episode:

• Trump backing down on mandating IVF coverage in insurance plans
• The shocking cost of a $21,000 post-exposure rabies shot