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Minnesota Fraud: State sues White House over withheld Medicaid funds
The State of Minnesota is challenging the deferral of more than $243 million in Medicaid funding, saying it violates due process and the U.S. Constitution. FOX 9's Soyoung Kim has the latest details.
(FOX 9) - As Minnesota grapples with its fraud crisis, the state is suing the Trump administration over frozen Medicaid funds.
This latest lawsuit stems from the notice that some federal Medicaid payments would be "temporarily halted" over fraud concerns.
Fallout over fraud handling
The backstory:
Vice President JD Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced on Feb. 25 the temporary pause in some federal Medicaid funding to Minnesota.
"In order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money," Vance said.
Oz said the federal government will defer $259.5 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota.
"This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota, it's a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously," Oz said.
What they're saying:
According to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota Monday against CMS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the state is challenging the deferral of more than $243 million of this money.
The state argues this action violates due process.
"…Defendants’ deferral of over $243 million dollars violates the procedural due process clause because Defendants are evading the procedures Plaintiffs are entitled to by immediately taking hundreds of millions of dollars without having to prove noncompliance after discovery and an evidentiary hearing."
Minnesota also argues that the action violates the Constitution because it imposes "retroactive conditions."
CMS says it does not comment on litigation.