States claim Medicaid access is blocked, White House denies payment disruption

States claim Medicaid access is blocked, White House denies payment disruption

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On Tuesday, at least three U.S. lawmakers reported that healthcare providers were unable to access the Medicaid payment portal after the Trump administration announced a halt to federal funding. However, the White House maintained that the program was not impacted.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt acknowledged the outage of the Medicaid portal but assured that it would be restored shortly. She emphasized that no payments had been disrupted.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget clarified in a letter to lawmakers that mandatory programs, including Medicaid and the SNAP food assistance program, were not affected by the funding pause.

Medicaid covers over 70 million people, with both state and federal governments sharing the financial responsibility. Each state manages its own Medicaid program. In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, Medicaid received $618 billion in federal assistance, distributed daily in grants to states—around $2.5 billion per business day.

During the first four days of Trump's presidency, the Department of Health and Human Services distributed about $8.3 billion in Medicaid grants, according to the Treasury Department.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden stated that healthcare providers across all 50 states were unable to access Medicaid payment portals, leading to a halt in healthcare access.

"My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night's federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight, which could cost lives," Wyden wrote on X.

Senator Chris Murphy, also a Democrat, reported that providers in his state were unable to receive payment after the Medicaid system was disabled. He added on X that discussions were ongoing regarding whether services could continue.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson, Ismail Shakil, Susan Heavey, Andrea Shalal, and Costas Pitas; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Nick Zieminski)

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