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A number of lawmakers in Congress reported Tuesday that states are being shut out of Medicaid fee portals after the Trump administration enacted a freeze on all federal monetary help — regardless of a brand new White Home truth sheet saying Medicaid will not be topic to the pause.
Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states, in keeping with a publish on X from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden referred to as it a “blatant try to tear away medical health insurance from hundreds of thousands of People in a single day” that “will get folks killed.”
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida additionally confirmed Medicaid fee techniques are offline of their states.
Illinois processed $518 million in Medicaid payments on Thursday and obtained its federal match funds on Monday, earlier than the Trump administration shut down the state’s entry to the Medicaid portal, in keeping with comptroller Susana Mendoza.
“Nonetheless, I’m very involved about how lengthy this ‘freeze’ could final,” Mendoza mentioned in an announcement, calling the Trump administration’s motion “reckless.”
The reviews battle with messaging coming from the White Home. “Necessary applications like Medicaid and SNAP will proceed with out pause,” in keeping with a Q&A from the Trump administration obtained by Healthcare Dive.
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned the administration is conscious of the Medicaid portal outages and expects it to “be again on-line shortly” in a publish on X Tuesday afternoon.
“We now have confirmed no funds have been affected — they’re nonetheless being processed and despatched,” Leavitt mentioned.
Suppliers have reported different fee techniques are additionally offline, suggesting the outages could possibly be a part of a broader shutdown of federal portals associated to grants and funding.
The HHS’ fee administration web site presently has a warning discover that funds could also be delayed or rejected “resulting from Govt Orders concerning doubtlessly unallowable grant funds.”
On Monday, Trump’s performing price range director despatched a memo to all federal businesses directing them to halt all monetary help, together with grants and loans, beginning at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. The pause will stay in place till the Workplace of Administration and Finances has an opportunity to assessment the spending, in keeping with the memo.
The objective is to make sure businesses’ use of federal {dollars} complies with latest government orders from Trump, together with ones reducing again on range, fairness and inclusion initiatives, rising deportation of unlawful immigrants and limiting elective abortions.
Democrat lawmakers and a few attorneys criticized the freeze, noting the chief department doesn’t have the facility to unilaterally change the disbursement of congressionally appropriated funds. Specialists additionally raised issues a few lack of readability within the OMB’s memo. Although it expressly states the freeze doesn’t apply to Medicare and Social Safety advantages, it doesn’t point out Medicaid, underneath which some 80 million low-income People obtain healthcare.
Halting federal Medicaid funding could be an enormous blow to states, suppliers and sufferers throughout the nation. It could additionally possible be unlawful, because the regulation requires the CMS to match states’ Medicaid funds every quarter.
The OMB’s omission shortly raised pink flags. Stakeholders, together with state Medicaid administrators, well being coverage researchers and affected person advocates, urged the Trump administration to say by hook or by crook whether or not Medicaid funding will proceed.
“Any pause in federal funding of Medicaid – the most important supply of federal funding obtained by states – could be disastrous,” Joan Alker, government director of Georgetown College’s Heart for Kids and Households, mentioned in an announcement. “That such a memo might have been drafted with out clarifying this query is negligent and suggests a callous indifference to the tens of hundreds of thousands of People who’re lined by Medicaid.”
Throughout a White Home press convention Tuesday afternoon, Leavitt reiterated that the pause on federal grant applications doesn’t embody funding for particular person help applications, together with Social Safety, Medicare, meals stamps or welfare advantages. Leavitt didn’t decide to Medicaid being exempt from the freeze.
The president’s transfer to halt the spending is broadly seen as unconstitutional and has already been challenged within the courts.
The White Home Q&A argues that halting federal disbursements will not be unlawful, however is as an alternative a “non permanent pause to provide businesses time to make sure that monetary help conforms to the insurance policies set out within the President’s Govt Orders, to the extent permitted by regulation.”
Together with Medicaid and SNAP, “any program that gives direct advantages to People is explicitly excluded from the pause,” the Q&A reads. “Funds for small companies, farmers, Pell grants, Head Begin, rental help, and different comparable applications won’t be paused.”
Editor’s be aware: This story has been up to date with extra remark from the White Home.
