Government to withhold some Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota, Vance says

WASHINGTON—Following President Donald Trump’s State of the Union promise to launch what he characterized as a war on fraud, Vice President J.D. Vance announced that the government will temporarily withhold reimbursements for some Medicare funds for Minnesota. These are payments for services that have already been provided, so he said there should be no disruption to recipients, but Minnesota’s state government will not be reimbursed for those payments until they take steps to identify and combat healthcare fraud, Vance said. Flanked by Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, Vance alleged that fraudsters in Minnesota have been stealing money from the government by falsely claiming children have autism diagnoses, collecting federal funds for after-school services for those children, but pocketing the funds and not using any of the services. This steals money from truly needy families, Vance said. Oz said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, spends up to $300 billion per year on waste, fraud, and abuse.

What happens next? Oz said the CMS sent a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, which requires a response within 60 days. Vance said he needs to see the state take steps to identify and root out fraud before the reimbursements resume. In response to a question from WORLD, the vice president said that some, but not all, of the alleged stolen money could be clawed back. He said the government would not prosecute people who have already left the country but he wants to see consequences. In January, Trump announced Colin McDonald would be the administration’s first fraud czar, a new assistant attorney general position specifically to prosecute fraud as part of a cross-department initiative. If confirmed by the Senate, McDonald would report directly to Vance. The vice president added that future announcements on similar fraud in other states are forthcoming.

Dig deeper: Read Emma Freire’s report in WORLD Magazine about the immigration enforcement wind-down in Minnesota.