The Trump administration announced last month it would withhold $867 million in Medicaid funding for California, adding to an earlier suspension of $1.34 billion, totaling $2.2 billion in withheld payments to the state. Minnesota is also affected, with $550 million in Medicaid funding withheld over the past three quarters.
These funds typically reimburse states for services already paid for, creating significant budgetary pressure as states continue to cover Medicaid services despite the federal suspension.
At a press conference announcing the halt, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), stated, “We suspect much of the questionable spending involves in-home services.” Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), added that these services are often those families would typically provide themselves but have increasingly been funded by the federal government, alleging the program “can be abused.”
Advocates express concern over the impact on disabled individuals and their caregivers. Tobias of Just commented, “They’re just suspending the funds, and then shifting over to the states the burden to come in and prove that they’ve done everything possible to eliminate what the federal government said is fraud, but they haven’t shown much by way of proof of that. That part of it, I think, is new, and that’s what is so troubling.” He further noted that disabled people and their caregivers “are the ones who are going to suffer,” emphasizing that “the burden falls on the people who need the services.”
States are expected to respond legally. Tobias said, “The states will likely sue. Probably sooner rather than later because I don’t know that they have much choice.” However, he cautioned that court disputes take time and states may not succeed.
Shannon Rosa, a caregiver, criticized the administration’s approach, saying, “They don’t have any idea what they’re talking about. I think they are very successful men who have never in their lives had to even consider what invisible labor looks like.”
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