{"id":2573899,"date":"2026-02-26T10:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-administration-blocks-more-than-200-million-in-medicaid-funds-to-minnesota-amid-fraud-probe\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:54:35","slug":"trump-administration-blocks-more-than-200-million-in-medicaid-funds-to-minnesota-amid-fraud-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-administration-blocks-more-than-200-million-in-medicaid-funds-to-minnesota-amid-fraud-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Blocks More Than $200 Million in Medicaid Funds to Minnesota Amid Fraud Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-administration-blocks-more-than-200-million-in-medicaid-funds-to-minnesota-amid-fraud-probe%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2573899&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Trump administration fraud investigators are intensifying efforts to curb Medicaid\/Medicare fraud, highlighting Minnesota as a focus. A crackdown announced by Vice President J.D. Vance, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz pauses about $259.5 million in quarterly Medicaid funding to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hinson-introduces-bill-to-codify-trump-order-protecting-americas-bank-account-from-waste\/\" title=\"Hinson introduces bill to codify Trump order protecting &#039;America&#039;s bank account&#039; from waste\">prevent improper payments<\/a> while Minnesota implements corrective actions. They say they are moving from a &#8220;pay and chase&#8221; model to a real-time &#8220;detect and deploy&#8221; approach using AI to identify fraud and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/omb-announces-effort-to-build-off-work-of-doge\/\" title=\"OMB announces effort to build off work of DOGE\">stop improper payments<\/a> before they go out. Teh administration warned that if minnesota does not <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >address program integrity weaknesses<\/a>, more than $1 billion in federal funds coudl be deferred over the next year. Separately, CMS has placed a six-month national pause on claims for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies after $1.5 billion in fraud was detected last year. The actions were connected to comments in Trump\u2019s State of the Union address, where he pledged to wage a broader war on fraud led by Vice President Vance.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Trump administration fraud-busters are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/but-youre-not-imposing-sanctions-dana-bash-corners-blinken-asks-why-biden-is-giving-russia-room-to-move\/\" title=\"\u2018But You\u2019re Not Imposing Sanctions\u2019: Dana Bash Corners Blinken, Asks Why Biden Is Giving Russia Room To Move\">taking aggressive action<\/a> to clamp down on Minnesota&rsquo;s wasteful ways.<\/p>\n<p>The new effort was announced by Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz.<\/p>\n<p>To ensure that more money does not goes where it should not after months of reports of fraud in Minnesota, $259.5 million of quarterly federal funding for Medicaid will be paused, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/trump-administration-prioritizes-affordability-announcing-major-crackdown-health-care-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a> from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;For decades, Medicare fraud has drained billions from American taxpayers &mdash; that ends now,&rdquo; Kennedy said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We are replacing the old &lsquo;pay and chase&rsquo; model with a real-time &lsquo;detect and deploy&rsquo; strategy, using advanced AI tools to identify fraud instantly and stop improper payments before they go out the door,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">JD Vance: &ldquo;I guarantee their are gonna be voices in the media and the state of Minnesota who say, &lsquo;This is hurting children.&rsquo; No. It&rsquo;s hurting fraudsters. The way to protect kids is to go after those fraudsters, which is what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qD6E3QXuhH\">pic.twitter.com\/qD6E3QXuhH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atrupar\/status\/2026784323731390699?\">February 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;CMS is done trying to catch fraudsters with their hands in the cookie jar &mdash; instead, we&rsquo;re padlocking the jar and letting them starve,&rdquo; Oz said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This proactive approach will help us crush fraud, protect taxpayer dollars, and make sure the vulnerable Americans who depend on our programs get the care they need,&rdquo; he continued.<\/p>\n<p>The release noted that Minnesota was warned that without an effective corrective action plan to stop the kinds of fraud that has grabbed headlines for months, CMS would pause funding.<\/p>\n<p>CMS found that in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, Minnesota wanted federal cash for $243.8 million in &ldquo;unsupported or potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims,&rdquo; according to the release, as well as $15.4 million in claims &ldquo;involving individuals lacking a satisfactory immigration status.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration found potential fraud in areas such as personal care services and home and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/another-2-trillion-here-are-the-key-components-of-bidens-massive-infrastructure-plan\/\" title=\"Another  Trillion: Here Are The Key Components of Biden\u2019s Massive Infrastructure Plan\">community-based services<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Should Minnesota fail to clean up its significant program integrity vulnerabilities or demonstrate that the expenditures are allowable, CMS may defer more than $1 billion in federal funds over the next year,&rdquo; the release said.<\/p>\n<p>In the same release, CMS said it is putting in place a six-month national pause on claims for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies after $1.5 billion in fraud was detected last year.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/factbase\/sotu\/transcript\/trump-sotu-20260224\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roll Call<\/a>, Trump touched on Minnesota&rsquo;s vast network of fraud during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>In the speech, Trump vowed to attack corruption that is &ldquo;plundering America.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. We have all the information and, in actuality, the number is much higher than that,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So, tonight, although started four months ago, I am officially announcing the war on fraud to be led by our great Vice President, J.D. Vance,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a paraphrased version of the core content, with extraneous code-like material set aside:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The Trump administration is taking strong action to curb Medicaid fraud in Minnesota, announced by Vice President J.D. Vance, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.<br \/>\n&#8211; To prevent improper payments after months of fraud reports, CMS will pause about $259.5 million in quarterly federal Medicaid funding for Minnesota.<br \/>\n&#8211; Kennedy said Medicare fraud has long drained taxpayers\u2019 money and promised a shift from a \u201cpay and chase\u201d approach to a real-time \u201cdetect and deploy\u201d strategy that uses AI to identify fraud instantly and stop improper payments before they\u2019re issued.<br \/>\n&#8211; The release warns that if Minnesota does not address significant program integrity vulnerabilities, CMS could defer more than $1 billion in federal funds over the next year.<br \/>\n&#8211; CMS also announced a six-month nationwide pause on claims for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and related supplies after $1.5 billion in fraud was detected last year.<br \/>\n&#8211; Minnesota was reported to have sought $243.8 million in potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims and $15.4 million in claims involving individuals lacking satisfactory immigration status in the last quarter of the previous fiscal year.<br \/>\n&#8211; The initiative was referenced in connection with remarks from Trump in his State of the Union address, where he vowed to lead a war on fraud, with Vance spearheading the effort.<\/p>\n<p>Note: The original text also contains assorted code snippets and promotional\/interactive elements that aren\u2019t part of the substantive reporting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[71962,74637,11975,5698,69735],"class_list":["post-2573899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-federal-funding-2","tag-fraud-probe","tag-medicaid","tag-minnesota","tag-trump-administration-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573899"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2573902,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573899\/revisions\/2573902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}