Vance says administration is pausing some Medicaid funding to Minnesota because of fraud concerns
WASHINGTON– Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota due to fraud concerns, part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on the misuse of public funds.
Medicaid is the United States health care safety net for low-income Americans. By the end of 2025, nearly 70 million people were registered nationwide.
Vance, who made the announcement with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration was taking this action “to ensure that the State of Minnesota takes seriously its obligations to be a good steward of the American people’s tax dollars.”
Wednesday’s move is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to shine a light on fraud across the country. The effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis sparked a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwest city, leading to widespread protests.
In January, Oz posted a video on social media alleging billions of dollars in hospice and home care fraud in Los Angeles. He was criticized by California Democrats for the video in which he stood outside an Armenian bakery while suggesting, without providing evidence, that much of the fraud was “run by the Russian Armenian mafia.”
Vance said in an interview on Fox News Channel earlier Wednesday that the Justice Department and Treasury Department would also be involved in the effort and would review tax records to uncover fraud.
“There’s a whole bunch of tools that we’ve never used,” Vance said.
