The Trump-Kennedy Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has paused over $1 billion in Medicaid funding for California and Minnesota, as the Democrats there have absolutely no intention of truly reforming their systems to root out the rampant fraud.
HHS leadership held a press conference Tuesday regarding the suspension and how the Trump administration is combatting fraud. “If those states want that money, they need to provide documentations that these payments are legitimate," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the press conference where Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), also appeared.
Oz explained why California in particular is raising so many questions. "Another $250 million, a quarter billion dollars, comes from claims tied to high-risk providers, as I explained earlier, those who are billing more than a year after the service is provided, those billing for four or more patients all at the same time — hard to juggle that many patients."
He went on, "And if they ranked the top two and a half percent of all billers, we were worried about them. This is a very conservative approach, by the way. We could have taken a lot more money. But this, we believe, is a very thoughtful, judicious way of moving forward. The final comes to about $5 million, by the way, when you also add some of the other red flag issues."
🚩 🚩 🚩@DrOzCMS rattles off the red flags suggesting rampant fraud in California. pic.twitter.com/DIlztUXc5f
— HHS Rapid Response (@HHSResponse) July 21, 2026
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Kennedy, meanwhile, stated, “And we have reason to believe taxpayer money is being misused, especially through fraud. We have a duty to stop the payments, demand answers, and then follow the evidence wherever it leads.”
Referring to the Democrats in charge of California and Minnesota, “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. And that's common sense. The Biden administration abandoned that kind of oversight. Instead of protecting your money, they open the floodgates to theft. They dismantled basic program integrity and oversight.”
BREAKING: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Trump administration is pausing more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over suspected fraud and noncompliance, saying the states must provide documentation showing the payments are… pic.twitter.com/5yX329Mpnw
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 21, 2026
“Even when they suspected fraud, the Biden HHS sent checks anyway, and tried to claw back the money later,” Kennedy stated. “It didn't make sense and it didn't work. The scammers got paid, the taxpayers got stuck with these enormous bills. Under President Trump, HHS is restoring common sense. We are not sending Medicaid and Medicare dollars out the door until we have confidence that they are being spent safely and appropriately.” That ought to be the standard, instead of the exception.
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