FILE PHOTO: A rally against Medicaid cuts in front of the U.S. Capitol on June 6, 2017.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Medicaid reimbursement portals went down Tuesday in every U.S. state after the Trump administration ordered a freeze on federal grants and loans, a senator said.
But the White House later said it expected the systems to “be back online shortly” without any effect on payments.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in a post on the social media site X.
“This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed,” he wrote.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said, “Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off.”
“Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid,” Murphy wrote in a tweet. “Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, tweeted, “This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.”
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt later wrote in a tweet, “The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage.”
“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.”
Several states, among them Arizona and Connecticut, regained access to their portals later Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., talks with reporters during a senate vote in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
As of October, there were 72,058,701 Americans enrolled in Medicaid, which provides health coverage to primarily low-income people, in addition to pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and states.
Medicaid, along with other programs including food stamps, small business assistance, Head Start, rental assistance and federal Pell Grants for college students, is supposed to be excluded from the Trump administration funding freeze, according to a memo issued Tuesday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget.
The shutdown in access to the Medicaid system came a day after acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth issued a memo ordering a “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.”
The memo requires federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with President Donald Trump‘s policies.
Earlier Tuesday, Leavitt told reporters at the White House, “I’ll check back on that and get back to you,” when asked if Medicaid payments were affected by the OMB order.
Murphy fired back at Leavitt in a tweet, writing, “72 MILLION people rely on this health insurance and you have to get back to us?!? Are you f****** kidding me?”
CNBC has requested comment from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the Medicaid system.
Read the original article here