Trump administration enacts 6-month moratorium on Minnesota Medicaid payments 

Trump administration enacts 6-month moratorium on Minnesota Medicaid payments 

Vice President Vance and top health official Mehmet Oz announced a 6-month “moratorium” on Medicaid payments to Minnesota, claiming it was an effort to crack down on fraud. The state’s governor is calling it “targeted retribution.” 

“We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligation seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money,” Vance said. 

Fourteen programs, including autism care and non-medical transport, are among the programs viewed as high risk for fraud. Roughly $260 million will not be reimbursed by the federal government. 

“I don’t know when at sometimes somebody says that enough is enough. This is a targeted retribution against a state that the president doesn’t like,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said in a press briefing Thursday. “The real shame in all this is this is a state that does health care as well as anybody.” 

Public health groups warned that this pause in funding will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in the state, where about a quarter of the population is on Medicaid. 

“Medicaid is not just a line item in a budget—it is a lifeline for over one million families, seniors, people with disabilities, and rural and urban communities across our state,” the Minnesota Public Health Association said in a statement to The Hill.  

“We urge constructive partnership to safeguard program integrity while ensuring that no Minnesotan experiences disruption in access to essential health services. Protecting health and stability must remain our common ground.” 

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, I’m Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Childhood obesity hits record: CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday revealed that childhood and teen obesity rates in the U.S. have reached record highs in recent years. The first report details how the CDC’s researchers found that 40.3 percent of adults 20 and older were found to be obese, which included 9.7 percent who have severe obesity and another 31.7 percent who are classified as overweight. This report was conducted …

Astronaut Mike Fincke reveals he was crew member with medical issue

(NewsNation) — Astronaut Mike Fincke revealed that he had a medical event that caused the early return of the International Space Station’s (ISS) Crew-11. The mission included fellow NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, along with Fincke. Fincke said that he experienced a medical event while on board the ISS and was stabilized by …

Senate Republican: Past Casey Means magic mushroom recommendation a ‘red herring’

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said Wednesday that the focus in Washington on surgeon general nominee Casey Means’s past recommendation for using psilocybin, commonly known as magic mushrooms, is a “red herring.” “Look, no way would I support people taking these psychedelics. I think it’s — it’s not part of my practice, it’s nothing that I could recommend. But I think that that’s a red herring, again,” …

Branch out with a different read:

California seal-watching tours canceled due to bird flu outbreak

Parks officials in California have canceled popular guided elephant seal tours for the remainder of the season and temporarily closed public viewing areas following a recent outbreak of bird flu at a state park. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed positive cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus in seven weaned pups at Año Nuevo State Park this week, according to researchers …

Local and state headlines on health care:

Lawmakers push Oregon Health Authority to probe telehealth provider (The Lund Report) 

Arizona House moves to end mental health education in schools (Arizona Daily Star) 

Appeal filed against ruling that upheld North Dakota’s ban on transgender health care for children (The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead) 

Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

Cigna, extending reach into prescription drugs, acquires major pharmacy used by hospitals (Stat) 

Trump’s surgeon general pick, Casey Means, still lacks votes for confirmation (Politico) 

‘You aren’t trapped’: hundreds of US nurses choose Canada over Trump’s America (KFF Health News) 

Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:

Americans don’t need announcements, they need lower drug prices

Blue state public health cuts don’t ‘own the libs’ — they endanger us all

You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow! 

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