Kevin Techau is a former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. He previously served as Director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, and later as Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Kevin is an attorney-at-law in Cedar Rapids. Dean Lerner is a former Iowa Assistant Attorney General and former Chief Deputy Secretary of State. He, too, served as Director of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. Dean is an attorney-at-law in Des Moines.

With the 2026 election approaching, Governor Kim Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have unveiled a new priority: cracking down on Medicaid fraud. That comes as a big surprise to those of us who know the system and have actually fought Medicaid fraud. 

Why such a surprise? Because our governor and attorney general have long disregarded the most effective tools already at their disposal to fulfill their pronounced objective. 

The real purpose of their newly created “Medicaid Fraud Elimination Task Force,” chaired by Bird, appears to be generating political headlines rather than meaningful results. And with each task force meeting streamed to the public, they have concocted a pretext for sustained Medicaid fraud political theater.