Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the federal government is halting more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota while officials investigate what they believe may be fraudulent claims involving the programs.

“We are not sending Medicaid dollars out the door until we have confidence that they are being spent lawfully and appropriately,” Kennedy said at an announcement on Tuesday.

Kennedy said the funding will remain on hold unless California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz can demonstrate that the payments are valid. According to the secretary, if the governors “want the money to fund low-income healthcare, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate.”

The HHS secretary placed responsibility for the alleged problems on the Biden administration, along with Democratic leaders in California and Minnesota, accusing them of failing to safeguard taxpayer-funded healthcare programs from abuse.

“Instead of protecting your money, they open the floodgates to theft,” Kennedy said. “They dismantle basic program integrity and oversight.”

The suspension of the Medicaid funds is the latest step in the Trump administration’s broader campaign to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government.

The announcement follows a major healthcare fraud crackdown unveiled last month by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who revealed that 455 defendants had been charged in schemes involving approximately $6.5 billion in fraudulent healthcare claims.

Federal officials described that operation as the “greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history,” alleging that participants exploited taxpayer-funded healthcare programs to bankroll lavish lifestyles.

{Matzav.com}