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Trump admin halts $800M in Medicaid payments to California. What’s next? 18%
By Paris Barraza21% USA TODAY13%
7/21/2026, 9:57:04 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Burden of Proof, Unattributed Quote, and Appeal to Emotion, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 12.6% saturation with 63 hits. Analysis detected 656 faulty-reasoning hits from 499 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 33.3% and a BS Rank of 18% (17,425 of 21,172 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 82.30% of the article peer group.
The Trump administration said it'll defer more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota due to "suspected fraud and noncompliance."
While the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services described the move as part of the administration's ongoing efforts in combatting fraud, Gov.
Gavin Newsom's press office disputed the reasoning for the announcement made on Tuesday, July 21, and described it as a "recycled political stunt."
The halting of funds occurs "while high-risk claims undergo additional review," Health and Human Services said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. said they won't be sending Medicaid and Medicare dollars "out the door until we have confidence that they are being spent lawfully and appropriately" during a press conference.
He said that the deferred payments were due to "suspected fraud and noncompliance."
Medicaid payments deferral: How much for California?
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is deferring approximately $867.5 million in federal Medicaid payments to California.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reviewed California's claims "for certain in-home care programs after identifying spending growth that far exceeded national trends and other claims that require additional documentation," Health and Human Services said.
The announcement on July 21 from Dr.
Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, "is the same recycled political stunt we've seen before," Newsom's press office said on X.
"California isn't being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud," the governor's press office said.
Newsom's press office said California is being targeted for "political reasons," and claimed that Dr.
Oz doesn't understand that taxpayers' money is being saved "by keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of far more expensive nursing homes!"
"We hate fraud.
That's not what this is," Newsom's press office said.
"And we stand ready to collaborate with CMS in good faith efforts to combat fraud."
In May, Dr.
Oz said on social media that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notified the California Department of Health Care Services that it was deferring over a billion dollars in federal Medicaid funding.
Is the Medicaid deferral a permanent funding cut?
HHS said these are payment deferrals and not permanent funding cuts.
"Both states will have the opportunity to provide documentation showing the claims meet federal Medicaid requirements," HHS said.
Kennedy said California and Minnesota need to provide documentation that the payments "are legitimate" if they want the combined over $1 billion in deferred federal payments.
Is Medicaid the same as Medi-Cal?
Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.
The California Department of Health Care Services, which is the agency responsible for administering the state's Medicaid program, did not immediately respond to the USA TODAY Network's request for comment.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network.
Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump admin halts $800M in Medicaid payments to California.
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