Medicaid payment portals are down following the Trump administration’s decision to freeze trillions of dollars in federal funding, as part of the new president’s effort to root out “wokeness” in the federal government, multiple sources report.
Medicaid is a health insurance program for low-income people that is managed jointly by the states and the federal government. With the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip), Medicaid covers more than one in every five Americans, or approximately 79 million people, nearly half of whom are children. Medicaid also pays for approximately two out of every five births in the United States.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” Ron Wyden, a US Democratic senator from Oregon, stated in a now-viral social media post on Tuesday.
“This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”
Later on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on social media that the administration was “aware of the Medicaid website portal outage” and that the portal was expected to “be back online shortly”. Leavitt stated that payments to providers are still being made, but did not explain why the outage occurred.
A separate memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Tuesday sought to clarify that Medicaid and other direct assistance programs, such as food assistance (known as Snap, colloquially “food stamps”), were exempt. The latest memo came after chaos had already broken out, and state Medicaid directors were still having trouble accessing payment portals, according to STAT.
On Monday, Matthew Vaeth, Trump’s acting head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), directed all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” (source). The memo expressly excludes Medicare and Social Security, two federal programs that provide health insurance and retirement benefits to seniors.
There was no mention of protecting Medicaid in either the original memo or Trump’s campaign promises, which he attempted to cut during his previous term. In January, the Republicans distributed a detailed memo outlining what Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families described as “draconian” Medicaid cuts.
The freeze appeared to have impacted a number of programs funded by the Department of Health and Human Services’ massive $1.8 trillion budget. HHS oversees a wide range of programs, including the nation’s biomedical research agencies and Head Start, which pays for childcare for low-income families.
Head Start program administrators have also reported payment system outages. Last week, HHS scientific agencies halted public communications and scientific meetings that are legally required to distribute research grants.
“Any pause in federal funding for Medicaid–the largest source of federal funding received by states–would be disastrous,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
“That such a memo could have been drafted without clarifying this question is negligent and suggests a callous indifference to the tens of millions of Americans who are covered by Medicaid,” according to Alker.
It appears that lawmakers were not informed about the outage before it occurred. The Washington Post reported that, while Medicaid was not a target of the freeze, it was included in the larger order.
Josh Hawley, a Republican US senator from Missouri, told CBS News that the White House told him that “Medicaid is not, categorically not, covered by this”.
At the same time, some other US senators appeared to be working to confirm the outage through their own offices, with Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, issuing a social media statement saying: “Can confirm. Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off. Doctors and hospitals cannot be paid. There are ongoing discussions about whether services can continue.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic representative, blamed Republicans in general for the outage, saying on social media: “Republican majorities in the House and Senate are backing this illegal sabotage,” adding, “They are ALL in on it. “Every one.”
Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic US senator from Minnesota, stated that the administration’s “reckless funding freeze” threatens various projects, including community health centers, cancer research, child care, and critical infrastructure. It is an unconstitutional power grab that endangers people’s lives and livelihoods.
Robert F Kennedy, Trump’s nominee to head HHS and a vaccine critic and conspiracy theorist, is scheduled to face a confirmation hearing before the US Senate on Wednesday.
