Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday pushed back sharply after the Trump administration moved to halt more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota, citing suspected fraud.
“Why they’re doing it is pure politics,” the Democratic governor said. “You know that, everybody knows it.”
Newsom argued that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., serving under Republican President Donald Trump, has not produced concrete evidence of Medicaid fraud. He pointed to exchanges of letters with the administration, saying California had been asked for information it had already submitted.
“We take fraud seriously,” Newsom added.
“What’s the point of the theater?” he asked.
The governor also framed the dispute as a political attack on Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for governor, former California attorney general and former Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden.
Newsom maintained that California remains focused on rooting out fraud, saying, “We don’t politicize it like these guys.”
He said his administration has been cooperating with federal officials by providing requested information and “have been” doing so throughout the process.
Kennedy earlier on Tuesday said if Newsom and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) want the money to fund low-income healthcare, “they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate.”
The health secretary criticized the Biden administration’s oversight of Medicaid, arguing that Becerra under Biden “looked the other way while fraud, waste, and abuse exploded.”
“The scammers got paid,” Kennedy said. “The taxpayers got stuck with these enormous bills.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is deferring over $200 million and over $867 million in federal Medicaid payments for Minnesota and California, respectively. The hold will be in place while federal officers review “high-risk Medicaid claims” and document deficiencies.
CMS officials suspect the questionable spending in California is rooted in in-home services. Over the past two federal fiscal years, California’s spending in these programs went up 24%, while the rest of the country’s average was 12%, according to CMS administrator Mehmet Oz.
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