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Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would \u201ctemporarily halt\u201d some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota\u00a0over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive\u00a0crackdown on misuse of public funds.<\/p>\n
Vance, who made the announcement with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration was taking the action \u201cin order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people\u2019s tax money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oz, who referred to people committing fraud as \u201cself-serving scoundrels,\u201d said the federal government would hold off on paying $259.5 million to Minnesota in funding for Medicaid, the health care safety net for low-income Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a problem with the people of Minnesota, it\u2019s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously,\u201d Oz said.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s move is part of a larger Trump administration effort to spotlight fraud around the country. That effort comes after\u00a0allegations of fraud\u00a0involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, resulting in widespread protests. President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, announced Vance would spearhead a national \u201cwar on fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also recently nominated Colin McDonald to\u00a0serve as the first assistant attorney general\u00a0in charge of a Justice Department division dedicated to rooting out fraud.<\/p>\n
Oz said the administration was simultaneously notifying Minnesota\u2019s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz as he was making the announcement publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will give them the money, but we\u2019re going to hold it and only release it after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,\u201d Oz said.<\/p>\n
He said Walz would have 60 days to respond and advised health care providers and Medicaid beneficiaries who were concerned to contact Walz\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Walz, former Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 2024 running mate, said in a pair of social media posts that the administration\u2019s move had nothing to do with fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,\u201d Walz said. \u201cThese cuts will be devastating for veterans, families with young kids, folks with disabilities, and working people across our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that his team has secured over 300 Medicaid fraud convictions since he took office in 2019. And he noted that he called on the Legislature earlier Wednesday to give him more staff and new legal tools to combat Medicaid fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cCourts have repeatedly found that their pattern of cutting first and asking questions later is illegal, and if the federal government is unlawfully withholding money meant for the 1.2 million low-income Minnesotans on Medicaid, we will see them in court,\u201d Ellison said.<\/p>\n
Oz said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were also taking action to crack down on fraud in Medicare, the health care system relied upon by millions of older adults.<\/p>\n
He said CMS for six months would block any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or other supplies used to treat chronic conditions or assist in injury recovery.<\/p>\n
The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found last year that Medicare improperly paid suppliers nearly $23 million for durable medical equipment from 2018 through 2024. But it found that most of that was before January 2020, when changes to the system were implemented.<\/p>\n
Oz also announced a new crowdsourcing effort he said would help \u201ccrush fraud\u201d by soliciting Americans\u2019 tips and suggestions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us are smarter than any one of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a news release accompanying the announcement, CMS said the funding being paused in Minnesota included some $244 million in unsupported or potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims and about $15 million in claims involving \u201cindividuals lacking a satisfactory immigration status.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigrants who are not living in the U.S. legally, as well as some lawfully present immigrants, are not allowed to enroll in the Medicaid program that provides nearly-free coverage for health services.<\/p>\n
CMS said in the release that if Minnesota fails to satisfy its requirements, it may defer up to $1 billion in federal funds to the state over the next year. CMS spokesperson Catherine Howden said the agency\u2019s review of potential fraud cases would include sampling claims to see if they comply with federal requirements, and potentially requesting more information about specific claims.<\/p>\n
Akeiisa Coleman, the senior program officer for Medicaid at the Commonwealth Fund, said CMS was taking a \u201chighly unusual step\u201d in deferring funding. She said if the state doesn\u2019t have enough funds available, it may have to halt payments to providers, which could affect care.<\/p>\n
The administration has threatened to cut off funding for various programs for some Democratic-run states over fraud concerns over the last few months.<\/p>\n
One judge blocked those actions and required that payments flowing to Minnesota and four other states \u2014 California, Colorado, Illinois and New York \u2014 for a\u00a0variety of social service programs. The government had said that there was \u201creason to believe\u201d that those states were granting benefits to people in the country illegally. It did not initially explain where that information came from, but a government lawyer told the judge it was largely in reaction to news reports about possible fraud.<\/p>\n
Another judge said she would not let it cut off funding for administrative costs for 22 states that have refused to hand over information about applicants and recipients of food aid through the\u00a0Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.<\/p>\n
The latest action was prompted in part by a series of fraud cases, including a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future accused of stealing pandemic aid meant for school meals. Prosecutors have put the losses from that case at $300 million.<\/p>\n
Since then, Trump has targeted the Somali diaspora in Minnesota with immigration enforcement actions and has made a series of disparaging comments about the community. During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said \u201cpirates\u201d have \u201cransacked Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal agencies have also been enlisted to assist in targeting fraud in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Last December, the U.S. Treasury Department issued an order requiring money wire services that people use to send money to Somalia to submit additional verification to the Treasury.<\/p>\n
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Minnesota in January that it intended to\u00a0freeze parts of payments\u00a0for some Medicaid programs that were deemed high-risk. The state said that those cuts would add up to more than $2 billion annually if they lasted and made an administrative appeal.<\/p>\n
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Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Medicaid #funding #Minnesota #temporarily #halt #fraud #concerns #Vance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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