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Minnesota sued the Trump administration this week over Medicaid funding. The state argues the White House's attempt to hold back hundreds of millions of dollars fits a pattern of, quote, "political punishment against the state." NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin explains.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: Medicaid is the public health insurance program for low-income people. It's a state and federal partnership. For every dollar spent in Medicaid by a state, the federal government matches that money. Last week, Vice President Vance announced the federal match for about $250 million spent by Minnesota last summer is being temporarily halted because of fraud allegations.
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JD VANCE: ...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. Now, what is this going to mean? What this means...
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Back in Minnesota, Deputy Health Commissioner John Connolly was stunned by that announcement. He spoke to reporters earlier this week.
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JOHN CONNOLLY: Minnesota has been acting aggressively to combat fraud, and the narrative that additional punitive funding deferrals are necessary to ensure that we are serious about this work does not reflect what we have done.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Connolly says that, in fact, the state submitted a Corrective Action Plan to the federal government and have been anxiously awaiting feedback on it for weeks.
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CONNOLLY: So we are adhering to the timelines, the milestones, the deliverables, and we are on schedule with those.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Now the state is suing the Trump administration in federal court over the deferral of Medicaid funding. The complaint says that Minnesota is being politically targeted and points out its Medicaid fraud rate is only 2%, way below the national average of 6%. Health policy experts say these actions by the federal government are shocking.
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JOCELYN GUYER: I wouldn't describe it as efforts to address fraud. Those are done in the context of partnerships between the federal government and the states.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Jocelyn Guyer of the consulting firm Manatt Health spoke with reporters this week.
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GUYER: These actions are unprecedented, both for the punitive nature and the magnitude of the losses.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Connolly of the Minnesota Department of Health says that this move could cause cash flow problems that could be catastrophic.
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CONNOLLY: It could jeopardize services for vulnerable populations and destabilize care for more than a million Minnesotans, half of whom are children.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: It's too early to know exactly who would be affected or how, but Autism Society of Minnesota's executive director, Ellie Wilson, told Minnesota Public Radio that Medicaid beneficiaries are scared.
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ELLIE WILSON: I need people to understand the impacts that are happening are extremely real and extremely dangerous. We have seen cases of deaths. We have seen cases of homelessness caused by services being dropped too quickly.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: A spokesperson for the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells NPR that the agency does not comment on litigation.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington.
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