Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday he’s stopping more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over suspected fraud.
“We are not sending Medicaid dollars out the door until we have confidence that they are being spent lawfully and appropriately,” Kennedy said at an announcement on Tuesday.
Kennedy said if California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) want the money to fund low-income healthcare, “they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate.”
Kennedy blamed the Biden administration and the Democratic leadership in both blue states for alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars.
“Instead of protecting your money, they open the floodgates to theft,” Kennedy said. “They dismantle basic program integrity and oversight.”
The clampdown is part of a broader Trump administration effort to go after waste, fraud and abuse.
Just a month ago, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced 455 people were charged for $6.5 billion in healthcare fraud schemes.
The feds say this was the “greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history,” charging individuals who used taxpayer-funded programs to pay for lux lifestyles.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
