Medicaid Payment Portal Goes Down in Trump Freeze

White House says states were still being sent the health care funding
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2025 7:21 PM CST
Medicaid Payment Portal Goes Down in Trump Freeze
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., joined from left by fellow Democrats Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., slams President Trump's action to freeze federal grants, calling the move illegal and unconstitutional, at the Capitol on Tuesday.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Even before President Trump's order freezing the distribution of trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans was scheduled to take effect on Tuesday afternoon—and well before it was blocked with minutes to spare by a federal judge—the edict was causing chaos. Attorneys general from several states said in a news conference that money did not go through to Head Start in Michigan, for instance, and for child development block grants in Maryland, per the Washington Post. The Education Department said funding for after-school programs, charter schools, and the Special Olympics was delayed. But the biggest stir caused by the freeze involved Medicaid. Those payments are not largesse; the federal government legally owes the money to Medicaid programs to cover patients' treatment. The breakdown:

  • System down: The online portals through which federal funding flows to state Medicaid departments to pay for patients' treatment stopped working in the morning, the New York Times reports. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden posted on X that his staff had confirmed that the portals were down in all 50 states. The Post reports that at least 20 states were unable to draw money out of the federal payment system. "This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed," Wyden wrote. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said the payment system was down in his state. "Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid," the Democrat wrote. "Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue." Some states regained access late in the day.
  • The stakes: Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal government and states, provides health care coverage primarily to low-income people, as well as those who are pregnant, elderly, or have disabilities. As of October, per NBC News, more than 72 million Americans were enrolled in the program.

  • Administration response: Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote at one point that the White House was aware of the outages. "We have confirmed no payments have been affected—they are still being processed and sent," Leavitt said. "We expect the portal will be back online shortly." At her news conference, Leavitt was asked whether she could guarantee that no one would be cut off from Medicaid because of Trump's freeze, she answered, "I'll check back on that and get back to you."
  • Democratic response: Murphy answered Leavitt's promise with "72 million people rely on this health insurance and you have to get back to us?" Using an obscenity, he then rhetorically asked if Leavitt was, essentially, kidding.
(More President Trump stories.)

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