The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was withholding an additional $1 billion in Medicaid funds from California and Minnesota, the second time it has targeted the two states with Democratic governors for suspected fraud in their public health insurance programs.<\/p>\n
The federal government will hold more than $867 million in payments from California and about $200 million from Minnesota until they can provide proof that certain claims were legitimate, officials said.<\/p>\n
Federal officials said they had uncovered claims for care provided to Medicaid enrollees who were deceased, and had found health care providers billing for an unusually high number of patients, a possible sign of fraudulent activity. They said the problems in California and Minnesota were especially acute.<\/p>\n
The administration has already been withholding around $250 million from Minnesota since February<\/a> and $1.3 billion from California since May<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf 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,\u201d Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, said at a news conference. \u201cThat\u2019s common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Both governors criticized the Trump administration\u2019s actions as politically motivated.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia isn\u2019t being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud,\u201d Governor Newsom posted on Twitter. \u201cWe are being targeted for political reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to The New York Times, Minnesota\u2019s governor, Tim Walz, said that the Trump administration was only \u201cpunishing children, seniors, working families and people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n In April, a federal judge said<\/a> that the administration\u2019s actions were \u201chistorically unprecedented\u201d but declined to intervene because it was a temporary pause on funding rather than a final decision.<\/p>\n The withheld funds make up a relatively small share of each of state\u2019s Medicaid budget<\/a>. California\u2019s Medicaid program cost $150 billion in 2024, and Minnesota spent $18.6 billion.<\/p>\n In March, the White House announced a broad initiative<\/a> to combat fraud across government programs nationwide, an effort being led by Vice President JD Vance. California and Minnesota have become frequent targets of the administration\u2019s anti-fraud work.<\/p>\n In June, the Federal Bureau of Investigation published a list of \u201cMost Wanted Fraudsters<\/a>,\u201d similar to the agency\u2019s long-running list of most-wanted criminals, to help generate leads on individuals suspected of defrauding the government.<\/p>\n The Department of Justice announced Tuesday it had apprehended a person from that list: Khalid Satary<\/a>, who was indicted in 2019, accused of billing Medicare over $500 million for expensive and unnecessary genetic tests.<\/p>\n Mr. Satary was apprehended in a Middle Eastern country and appeared in federal court Tuesday, a Justice Department spokesman said.<\/p>\n Minnesota\u2019s Medicaid program experienced a recent, sharp rise in spending on behavioral therapy for children with autism, transportation services and a dozen other types of care it has since identified as \u201chigh risk.\u201d Some of the services that providers billed the program for were never provided to patients, according to recent charges the Department of Justice brought against autism center<\/a> owners and employees in May.<\/p>\n