By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-07-21 15:11:28 | Updated at 2026-08-06 05:15:05
2 weeks ago
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in New York City on June 2, 2023. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
The federal government is pausing more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to two states, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on July 21.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is withholding more than $867 million from California and more than $200 million from Minnesota.
Advanced analytics, identified through financial investigation and artificial intelligence, identified suspicious activity and potential fraud, officials said.
“Every dollar the federal government allows to be lost to fraud, waste, and abuse is a dollar stolen from American patients and the American taxpayer. That’s money that should be going to legitimate health care,” Kennedy told a press conference in Washington.
He added later, “If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate.”
The governors of California and Minnesota, both Democrats, have not yet reacted to the new announcement.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the CMS administrator, told reporters on Tuesday that officials want the states to help the federal government make sure the funds are going to “real people with real problems getting real care.”
Among the problems identified, he said, was the federal government being charged for providers providing care for deceased people and providers billing for services provided more than a year prior.
“If it smells like fraud, we’re not paying for it anymore,” Oz said.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
