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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday his department will cease more than $1 billion in Federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over "fraud" claims.
“We are not sending Medicaid dollars out the door until we have confidence that they are being spent lawfully and appropriately,” Kennedy said he called on democratic governors Gavin Newsom of California and Tim Walz of Minnesota to "provide documentation that these payments are legitimate," or they wouldn't be able to fund the vital healthcare program.
Outraged users on X accused the Trump administration official of carrying out "targeted retribution" on two government figures who have been vocal critics of President Donald Trump.
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"He is intentionally harming citizens. This is targeted retribution. Truly evil s---," one user wrote
"You are a f------ idiot and a disgrace to the Kennedy name. The blood of Americans in those states will be on your hands," another added.
The pause will halt more than $867 million for California and nearly $200 million for Minnesota. Kennedy blamed the Biden administration leadership for the alleged mishandling of tax dollars today.
“Instead of protecting your money, they open the floodgates to theft,” Kennedy said. “They dismantle basic program integrity and oversight.”
Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra “looked the other way while fraud, waste, and abuse exploded," he added.
“The scammers got paid,” Kennedy said. “The taxpayers got stuck with these enormous bills.”
The funding involves 14 areas in Minnesota that the government has identified as high-risk due to vulnerabilities or evidence of fraudulent activity.
In California, officials said they've grown suspicious over the past two years because of a sudden increase in the state's spending in these programs, which skyrocketed to 24% while the average for the rest of the country remained at 12%, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz.
Kennedy said the majority of the suspected fraud is believed to be within in-home services, which has been cast as a scam by both the health secretary and President Trump on numerous occasions. They've received backlash from disabled individuals, concerned families and enraged lawmakers.
The announcement follows a similar threat made by Vice President JD Vance in March, who said he would punish states who did not cooperate with a new fraud task force by stripping them of funding. The supposed task force was formed through a White House executive order that put Vance at the helm.
The Health and Human Services Department is also seeking to strengthen its authority to override states and unilaterally remove "bad actors" from federal healthcare programs, going as far as permanently banning them from ever receiving federal funding, according to the health secretary.
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