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“Political retribution, plain and simple,” was how US Sen. Alex Padilla described an announcement by Vice President JD Vance late Wednesday regarding the White House’s decision to withhold $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursement payments to California.

Vance and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, claimed the state’s Medicaid records have generated “red flags” and demanded officials clarify $630 million in billing, $500 million that’s been spent on home health services, and $200 million in what Oz called “questionable expenditures,” which he claimed had been used to provide coverage for undocumented immigrants, who are not eligible for Medicaid.

The announcement came a month after Vance’s federal anti-fraud task force suspended the licenses of nearly 450 hospice care facilities and 23 home health agencies in the Los Angeles area, accusing them of fraud.

Vance also warned that all 50 states could soon see federal funding for their Medicaid Fraud Control Units frozen if they fail to “aggressively prosecute Medicaid fraud.”

“We can turn off other resources within their state Medicaid programs as well,” said the vice president.

Republicans Push “Waste and Fraud” Narrative Again to Gut the Social Safety Net

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has frequently sparred with the Trump administration, said Vance and Oz........

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