{"id":406897,"date":"2026-07-21T19:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406897\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T19:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:08:08","slug":"california-minnesota-face-delayed-medicaid-funds-as-cms-defers-over-1b-pending-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406897\/","title":{"rendered":"California, Minnesota face delayed Medicaid funds as CMS defers over $1B pending records"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced on Tuesday deferred more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a release, it comes as the states need to submit additional documentation supporting certain \u201chigh-risk\u201d Medicaid claims. In a release, it said, \u201cThe action advances the Trump administration\u2019s effort to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid and safeguard federal taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMedicaid exists to serve vulnerable Americans \u2014 not to bankroll unsupported claims,\u201d said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. \u201cUnder President Trump\u2019s leadership, we are restoring accountability across our public programs and protecting taxpayer dollars. I appreciate CMS Administrator Dr. Oz\u2019s leadership in strengthening Medicaid program integrity and ensuring federal funds are spent as Congress intended. States that receive federal Medicaid funding must demonstrate that every dollar meets federal requirements. When they cannot, we will not release federal funds until they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a release<\/a>, CMS is deferring about $867.5 million in federal Medicaid payments to California and $199 million to Minnesota after focused financial reviews identified claims that require additional review before federal matching funds are released.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are payment deferrals (not permanent funding cuts) and both states will have the opportunity to provide documentation showing the claims meet federal Medicaid requirements,\u201d said in the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cCMS is done trying to chase down stolen and misused funds after they\u2019ve already left the building,\u201d said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re deferring payments with respect to certain high-risk services within the Medicaid programs in California and Minnesota as part of our proactive new approach to program integrity. By stopping waste and fraud before the check clears, CMS is delivering record-high savings for taxpayers and ensuring that their hard-earned dollars reach the vulnerable Americans Medicaid is meant to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

For California, CMS reviewed the state\u2019s claims for certain in-home care programs after identifying spending growth that \u201cfar exceeded national trends and other claims that require additional documentation.\u201d As a result, CMS is deferring about $867.5 million in federal Medicaid payments until the state provides the information needed to support those claims.<\/p>\n

For Minnesota, CMS also reviewed Medicaid claims in 14 high-risk service areas in Minnesota. The review identified claims that require additional documentation, including expenditures linked to providers flagged through program integrity reviews and other claims with potential eligibility or billing concerns.<\/p>\n

CMS is deferring approximately $199 million in federal Medicaid payments while that review continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-406897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}