States and the country’s health industry were disorder after the Trump administration ordered Monday that the government freezes almost all federal subsidies at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, a radical directive which seemed at least initially to include the Funding from Medicaid, Health Insurance-Federal of the Program State which covers more than 70 million Americans.
On Tuesday, state officials across the country indicated that they had been excluded from a critical online portal which allows states to access Federal Medicaid funding.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the best democrat of the Senate Finance committee, said on the Bluesky social media site that portals were in the 50 states Following the order of the Trump administration.
“This is a blatant attempt to tear the health care of millions of Americans overnight and will have people killed,” he wrote.
Around noon on Tuesday, while state health officials pressed the federal government for more clarity, the White House management and budget office – which published Monday’s memo – published new Directives stating that “compulsory programs like Medicaid” were not included in frost.
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary of the White House, refused to confirm that Medicaid was exempt when he was in a hurry by journalists during a briefing in the early afternoon.
But She said later In an article on the social platform X, “no payment has been affected” by what it described as a “gate breakdown”.
The possibility that the federal funding of Medicaid was closed overnight in the aftermath of the frightened defenders already in the future of the future of the program. President Donald Trump has promised on the campaign track so as not to request discounts for health insurance or social security, the main rights programs in the country mainly serve retirees. But he did not make the same promise on Medicaid, which pays health care for people mainly with low income and disabled – around 1 in 5 Americans.
Seprénées de gel, the Congress Republicans discuss the reduction of the program by almost $ 900 billion, arguing that the costs have increased with registration, including the expansion of the program to cover more adults with low income. Legislators also consider means to save money for other Trump’s legislative priorities – in particular, extend the tax reductions in his first mandate which expires at the end of this year.
The federal government pays most costs for Medicaid, which is exploited by states. Medicaid pays most long -term care for Americans and for around 40% of all American births, and with the related children’s health insurance program covers About 38 million children.
Federal funding from Medicaid does not directly go to individual registrants but to the States, which then distribute it to suppliers, health plans and other entities which serve the registrants of Medicaid.
State representatives can access this funding via Internet portals.
Joan Alker, who is executive director of the Center for Children and Families of the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy, said on x Tuesday, the locking of the portal is “a major crisis”.
She stressed that many states access their federal funding at the end of the month-“that is to say this week,” she wrote.
The Original Gel Order came in the form of A vaguely formulated two -page memo From the management and budget office to all federal agencies ordering them to “temporarily suspend all activities related to the obligation or disbursement of all federal financial aid”.
“This temporary break will provide the time of administration to examine agency programs and determine the best uses of financing these programs in accordance with the law and the priorities of the president,” said the note. The only programs explicitly noted as exceptions were health insurance and social security, which could not know how states would continue to pay doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and health plans private to manage Medicaid.
Throughout the country, health officials rushed to give sense to order, which was to take effect at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. A federal judge arrested the frost Shortly before its implementation, blocking the change until next week.
Even if the OMBE clarified that Medicaid was not included, the immediate impacts on other critical health programs became clear, in particular for community health centers and medical research centers.
Congress Democrats expressed their indignation with regard to the Trump administration for ending federal funding not only in Medicaid, but also many other programs, including the additional nutrition aid program, also known Under the name of food coupons, the WIC nutrition program for women and pregnant and postpartum infants, and school meal programs for low-income students.
“The action of the Trump administration last night to suspend all federal subsidies and loans will have a devastating impact on the health and well-being of millions of children, elderly on fixed income and the most vulnerable people of our country, “said senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT.), said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is a dangerous transition to authoritarianism and it is manifestly unconstitutional.”
The National Association of Directors of Medicaid and the main associations of nursing houses made Tuesday those who requested clarification of the White House on the impact of the Order on the financing of Medicaid.
Many representatives and groups of the state declared that they were considering or had already filed a dispute contesting the order. A legal action was filed Tuesday against the OMB before the Washington Federal Court, DC, by the National Council of Non -Lucrative Organizations and the American public Association, requesting a temporary ban on “Maintaining the status quo until the court has the possibility of considering the illegality of the OMB actions more fully. »»
Prosecutors General in California, New York, and four other states announced Tuesday afternoon a joint trial against the Trump administration on the Order, which, according to them, had already froze systems for Medicaid, Head Start and even the ‘Application of child alimony in several states.
“There is no doubt that this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional,” said New York prosecutor, Letitia James. She added that she and other Democratic Public Prosecutors would request a temporary ban order to prevent the entry into force of the OMB policy.
Leavitt defended the frost during its Blanche Briefing – the first in the new administration – saying that it was essential to ensure that federal funding was used in an appropriate manner.
“This is a very responsible measure,” she said.
Reports contributed by Bram Sand-Smith, Jordan Rau, Renuka Rayasam, Brett Kelman and Christine Mai-Duc.