Minnesota is once more in the crosshairs of the federal government, this time when it comes to Medicaid funding.
Vice President JD Vance and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, announced late Wednesday afternoon that $259.5 million in Medicaid funds for Minnesota won’t be reimbursed pending investigation.
"Announcing today that we have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of 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 detailed.
That comes with a pause on firms that can seek those same subsidies through Medicare for durable medical equipment like canes and walkers according to the New York Post.
All of this comes on the heels of President Donald Trump declaring a "war on fraud" in Tuesday night's State of the Union address.
The money is the entire amount Minnesota receives for the month in federal Medicaid reimbursements and impacts thousands of the state's residents.
"We're going to, for the first time, take a massive action to defer funds to a state," Dr. Oz explained.
Much of the money is earmarked for taking care of pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Last October, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered a third party audit on the billing practices of 14 Medicaid services that are deemed to be "high risk" for fraud in Minnesota.
"We have notified the state and said that we will give them the money, but we're going to hold it and only release it after they propose, and act on, a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem," Oz added.
Minnesota and Walz have been given 60 days to respond, according to Oz.
An investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office found that up to half or more of the roughly $18 billion in claims paid out by Medicaid to 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018 may have been fraudulent.
Walz disputed those claims, saying that number is "sensationalized."
Wednesday’s move is part of a larger Trump administration effort to spotlight fraud around the country. That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, resulting in widespread protests.
In January, Oz posted a video on social media alleging billions of dollars in hospice and home care fraud in Los Angeles. He came under fire from California Democrats for the video, in which he stood in front of an Armenian bakery while suggesting without providing evidence that much of the fraud was “run by the Russian Armenian mafia.”
Vance said in an interview on Fox News Channel earlier Wednesday that the Justice Department and Treasury Department would also be involved in the effort, and would be looking at tax records to uncover fraud.
“There’s a whole host of tools that we have never used,” Vance said.”