State Medicaid systems around the nation reported Tuesday that they had misplaced get admission to to federal fee portals someday after President Trump introduced a freeze on federal grants and support.
Through the overdue afternoon, states together with Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Carolina all showed that they had regained get admission to to the portal, however some reported ongoing problems.
On Monday, appearing Director of the Place of job of Control and Finances (OMB) Matthew Vaeth issued a memo declaring companies will have to halt “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” to the “extent admissible through acceptable regulation.”
State Medicaid systems reported Tuesday they have got been blocked from getting access to the portals that offer states with federal investment.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote at the social platform X, “My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in a similar way shared claims of states shedding get admission to, and a couple of states showed outages to The Hill.
White Area press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X on Tuesday afternoon that the White Area was once “aware of the Medicaid website portal outage” however had “confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent.”
“We expect the portal will be back online shortly,” she added.
The outage comes amid broader issues over how Trump’s freeze on federal support will have an effect on govt services and products.
An OMB memo issued Tuesday said, “Any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.”
All through a press briefing previous Tuesday, Leavitt insisted Medicaid would now not be suffering from the pause but if requested for a make it possible for no one on Medicaid would see a cutoff, she mentioned, “I’ll check back on that and get back to you.”
In line with Medicaid.gov, just about 80 million other folks within the U.S. have been enrolled in Medicaid and the Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program (CHIP) in October 2024. Of the ones enrolled in both program, greater than 37 million have been kids.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Government Place of job of Well being and Human Services and products advised The Hill it “is experiencing some delays / system access issues with the Payment Management System (PMS), but it is unclear whether this is related to the OMB memo or coincidental. Other states have reported similar issues with PMS,” they added. “MassHealth is not halting any payments to providers, plans, or other payees.”
Melanie Cleveland, director of communications for the Alabama Medicaid Company, advised The Hill, “It is our understanding that access to the portal has been halted temporarily, and we are currently awaiting guidance from CMS.”
Christine Stuart, deputy director of communications for the Connecticut Division of Social Services and products, mentioned, “The payment management system is unable to be accessed.”
A spokesperson for the Arizona Well being Care Price Containment Machine (AHCCCS) advised The Hill this system “is currently locked out of the Federal Payment Management System, this means that at this time AHCCCS is unable to draw down any federal funding including funding for our non-discretionary Title XIX and Title XXI programs.”
The Alaska Division of Well being mentioned its portal get admission to is recently functioning in most cases.
Up to date at 6:02 p.m. EST
