Vance cuts $1.3 billion in California Medicaid, pauses hospice care

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration will defer $1.3 billion in Medicaid funds to California, due to concerns over fraud, Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday.

Vance, alongside Mehmet Oz, administrator for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration is launching more fraud enforcement efforts for Medicare and Medicaid in states across the country. The government sent letters to all 50 states calling for states to revalidate their providers of Medicare and Medicaid services.

“There are California taxpayers and American taxpayers who are being defrauded because California isn’t taking its program seriously,” Vance said.

The vice president said many states that have Medicaid fraud deterrence programs have not properly utilized them to stop fraudulent activity. He said Hawaii has secured zero indictments or convictions while receiving funds to pursue fraudulent activities.

“They don’t think the fraud is a big enough problem,” Vance said. “They don’t care about protectin...