{"id":48292,"date":"2026-05-17T12:07:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T19:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48292"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T19:08:13","slug":"california-officials-accuse-trump-admin-of-political-retribution-as-vance-suspends-medicaid-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/california-officials-accuse-trump-admin-of-political-retribution-as-vance-suspends-medicaid-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"California Officials Accuse Trump Admin of \u2018Political Retribution\u2019 as Vance Suspends Medicaid Payments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"JD<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Vice President JD Vance speaks alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz during a press conference on anti-fraud initiatives at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Kent Nishimura\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithholding reimbursements only further hurts patients, strains providers, and drives up costs,\u201d said one Democratic congresswoman. \u201cWe will fight this with everything we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 14, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolitical retribution, plain and simple,\u201d was how US Sen. Alex Padilla described<\/a> an announcement by Vice President JD Vance<\/a> late Wednesday regarding the White House\u2019s decision to withhold $1.3 billion in Medicaid<\/a> reimbursement payments to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare<\/a> and Medicaid Services, claimed<\/a> the state\u2019s Medicaid records have generated \u201cred flags\u201d and demanded officials clarify $630 million in billing, $500 million that\u2019s been spent on home health services, and $200 million in what Oz called \u201cquestionable expenditures,\u201d which he claimed had been used to provide coverage for undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible for Medicaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Remote<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

900 Health Facilities Shutting Down or at Risk of Collapse as Trump-GOP Cuts \u2018Ripple Across the Country\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"US<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A $1,700,000,000 Fraud\u2019: Trump Set to Drop IRS Suit in Exchange for MAGA Slush Fund<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The announcement came a month after Vance\u2019s federal anti-fraud task force suspended<\/a> the licenses of nearly 450 hospice care facilities and 23 home health agencies in the Los Angeles area, accusing them of fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance also warned that all 50 states could soon see federal funding for their Medicaid Fraud Control Units frozen if they fail to \u201caggressively prosecute Medicaid fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can turn off other resources within their state Medicaid programs as well,\u201d said the vice president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>, who has frequently sparred with the Trump administration<\/a>, said Vance and Oz were \u201cattacking programs that keep seniors and people with disabilities OUT of nursing homes,\u201d which are far more expensive to run than home healthcare<\/a> agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsom said the growth of the state\u2019s In-Home Supportive Services program has saved taxpayers \u201c$107,000 per person\u201d by reducing reliance on nursing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMAGA hates in-home support programs\u2014which help people stay out of costly institutional settings like nursing homes and get the care they deserve, typically from loved ones,\u201d said Newsom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/GovPressOffice\/status\/2054620092336681428?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2054620092336681428%7Ctwgr%5E8e0af225366c36e828918f7fe3e9cf4ec9fbff31%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fcalifornia-home-health<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsom also said the Trump administration had informed state officials that the deadline to review California\u2019s Medicaid records \u201cbefore deciding whether to defer funding\u201d would be later in the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic members of Congress warned that their constituents rely heavily on Medicaid, with seven out of 10 of the congressional districts with the highest Medicaid enrollment located in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) said<\/a> that 56% of her constituents rely on \u201cthis lifesaving program,\u201d and many have already been harmed by the Republican Party\u2019s slashing of Medicaid funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithholding reimbursements only further hurts patients, strains providers, and drives up costs,\u201d said Kamlager-Dove. \u201cWe will fight this with everything we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) said<\/a> more than 120,000 people in his district depend on the federal healthcare program for low-income households and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis administration needs to stop playing politics with people\u2019s health and lives,\u201d said Panetta. \u201cWhen people commit fraud, they should be punished accordingly. However, this administration continues to punish California for political purposes, including penalizing innocent people by taking their healthcare away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Attorney General Rob Bonta noted<\/a> that California has \u201cnot hesitated to challenge unlawful actions by the Trump administration,\u201d and suggested the state could file a legal challenge against the withholding of Medicaid funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also accused the administration of targeting the heavily Democratic state \u201cfor political reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anti-fraud task force led by Vance has so far exclusively focused on rooting out alleged fraud in federal programs in blue states. The White House<\/a> suspended<\/a> $259 million in federal payments to Minnesota earlier this year after a scandal regarding the state\u2019s social services system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump administration is attacking California over claims that they can\u2019t back up,\u201d said Padilla. \u201cLet\u2019s be real, this isn\u2019t about fraud\u2014it\u2019s about punishing a state that didn\u2019t vote for\u201d President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Conley is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Vice President JD Vance speaks alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz during a press conference on anti-fraud initiatives at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Kent Nishimura\/AFP via Getty Images) \u201cWithholding reimbursements only further hurts patients, strains providers, and… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48293,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48292\/revisions\/48293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}