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Trump Admin Pauses More Than $1 Billion in Medicaid Funding to California and Minnesota

HeadlineJul 22, 2026

Back in the U.S., the Trump administration has paused more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota. That includes more than $867 million for California and about $200 million for Minnesota. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims it’s part of the administration’s strategy to “stop the fraud before it happens.” But in their news conference Tuesday, neither RFK Jr. nor Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, offered new evidence of fraud. California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X, “California isn’t being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud. We are being targeted for political reasons — and because Dr. Oz doesn’t understand that we are SAVING taxpayers money by keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of far more expensive nursing homes! We hate fraud. That’s not what this is.”

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