By Fatma Zehra Solmaz
ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Trump administration will temporarily suspend more than $250 million in Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota under a newly touted anti-fraud campaign, but the state is crying foul, saying the move is politicized and has nothing to do with fraud.
Federal funding to the state will be suspended until Minnesota strengthens its efforts to combat fraud against US taxpayers, Vance told a press briefing in Washington, DC alongside Mehmet Oz, the Turkish American Medicare and Medicaid chief.
“What we’re doing is we are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer,” Vance said, as reported by The Washington Post.
But Minnesota Governor Tim Walz -- a frequent target of the Trump administration -- objected, saying: “This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota.”
Trump critics say he is illegally cutting programs and funds from “blue” states, which vote mostly Democratic, while giving favorable treatment to “red” states, which mostly vote for Trump’s Republican Party. Last month a judge in Washington ruled that Trump’s cancellation of education grants to blue states was illegal.
Walz added: “The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DOJ (Department of Justice) is gutting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster.”
Since last December, Trump’s controversial irregular migrant crackdown in Minnesota has led dozens of US attorneys to quit in protest, leaving the state short-handed in any anti-fraud drive.
Walz also said: “These cuts will be devastating for veterans, families with young kids, folks with disabilities, and working people across our state.”
Minnesota’s Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs together cover nearly 1.3 million residents, or about one in four people in the state. Nationwide, Medicaid provides healthcare coverage to more than 70 million low-income Americans, including children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with disabilities.