HHS withholds $867 million in Medicaid payments to California as part of 'crackdown on fraud'
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Set us as preferred In the latest salvo in the war between the Trump administration and California, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.Kennedy jr.
said Tuesday his agency withheld $867.5 million in Medicaid payments to the state over concerns about fraud.Kennedy also said his agency defered $199 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota over similar concerns.“If Gov.Gavin Newsom or Gov.
Tim Walz wants this funding released, all they have to do is provide basic documentation showing that these services are legitimate and not fraudulent,” Kennedy said at a news conference.Just under half of the funds withheld from California were in connection with in-home health services.Dr.Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said California’s spending on in-home health services went up by more than double the national average over the past two fiscal years.“That doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Politics California has been the target of more civil rights actions than any other state.The civil rights division is led by California-native Harmeet Dhillon.About a quarter of the funds withheld involved care provided to individuals with “unsatisfactory immigration status,” whose eligibility to be in the country and receive these services is in question, which Oz characterized as an “ongoing massive problem for California.”The announcement by Kennedy and Oz on Tuesday comes two months after Vice President JD Vance announced that the administration would be deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments over fraud concerns, largely connected to hospice services and in-home healthcare.Newsom’s office, in a social media post, called the announcement a “recycled political stunt.”“California isn’t being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud,” the post said.
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