Trump administration is withholding more than $1B in Medicaid funds from California and Minnesota, in latest example of weaponizing real and imagined fraud

For six decades, politicians have blurred the distinction between protecting Medicaid from abuse and using abuse to discredit Medicaid itself.

By: Ben Zdencanovic, University of Cambridge, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: August 3, 2026

Words: 1,319

Last Updated: 56 minutes ago

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By Ben Zdencanovic, University of Cambridge

The Trump administration announced on July 21, 2026, that it’s withholding US$867 million in federal healthcare funding for California and $200 million for Minnesota – a total of more than $1 billion.

Federal officials said the two states had failed to provide sufficient evidence that a number of disputed medical claims were legitimate. These include bills for in-home care and other services covered by the two states’ Medicaid …

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