Congressional hearing today on Minn. Medicaid

Minnesota's Medicaid program for the poor and disabled will be under scrutiny at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate called the joint hearing saying that recent actions by the state of Minnesota suggested possible fraud and abuse of the Medicaid program.

Medicaid is financed jointly by state and federal governments and covers more than 600,000 Minnesotans.

At issue is $30 million that the UCare health plan gave the state from its profits on public insurance programs. The state initially said it planned to keep all that money, but under pressure from Congress and the agency that runs Medicaid has agreed to share half the money with the federal government.

Among the witnesses who will testify are Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson, 6th District Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, and David Feinwachs a vocal critic of the state's Medicaid program.

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