Robert F Kennedy Jr. announced that the administration has paused over $1 billion in Medicaid funding for California and Minnesota due to suspected fraud.
Robert F Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced that the administration has paused more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding for California and Minnesota. The move follows concerns regarding noncompliance and suspected fraud, with California seeing a pause of $867 million and Minnesota $200 million. The administration used artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to identify suspicious activity, particularly in in-home services for disabled individuals. Robert F Kennedy Jr. stated that states must provide documentation to prove payments are legitimate before the funds are released. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, noted that the government will no longer pay for claims that "smell like fraud." To address these issues, the administration is expanding its authority to remove "bad actors" from federal healthcare programs. While the state of Minnesota has already sued the Department of Health and Human Services over the withheld funds, the administration maintains that the pause ensures federal money is not wasted on criminals.