Vice President JD Vance announced that the Donald Trump administration is halting $1.3 billion in Medicaid funding in California. This move comes as he believes that California has failed to prosecute fraud, leading to the misuse of the program intended to help Americans with limited income and resources. California is reportedly not the only state to be targeted in an effort to stop program fraud, as Minnesota previously faced a similar outcome.
JD Vance announces suspension of $1.3B in Medicaid
During a White House interview, JD Vance revealed that they are suspending $1.3 billion in Medicaid funding to California after the state failed to defraud those misusing the program. “There are California taxpayers and American taxpayers who are being defrauded because California isn’t taking its program seriously, but also you have people who have been prescribed medications that they don’t even need,” he explained.
Vance stressed how the fraudsters are scamming people with fake prescriptions and medicines, risking their health. He claimed that they have notified all 50 states to look into the Medicaid fraud and act upon it immediately; otherwise, they could risk losing funding from the government. He strictly reiterated that they will stop the money in those states’ Medicaid Fraud Control Units that don’t do anything about investigating the fraud.
Apart from funding, he also warned that if they found any discrepancies in the states’ operation towards Medicaid, they would also stop providing other resources under the program. He said that they have red and blue states that work towards stopping the fraud, but believes that the latter group doesn’t take it seriously.
Reflecting on why such actions are necessary to be taken against Medicaid fraud, he explained, “We want to protect Medicaid. We want to protect Medicare. But we can’t do that if the states that are administering those programs are allowing those programs to be fleeced by fraudsters. So we encourage, whether it’s California or New York or Maryland or Ohio, we encourage people to work with us. We want to help you use technology and other tools to get rid of the fraud, to get to the root of the fraud.”
Originally reported by Shazmeen Navrange on Mandatory.
