Trump admin scores Minnesota court win in Medicaid fraud crackdown
A federal judge declined to block the Trump administration’s Medicaid funding deferral to Minnesota, finding the state’s challenge was premature and giving the White House a temporary legal win as...
By Fox News · Fox News
A federal judge declined to block the Trump administration’s Medicaid funding deferral to Minnesota, finding the state’s challenge was premature and giving the White House a temporary legal win as it expands its anti-fraud push. Judge Eric Tostrud, an appointee of President Donald Trump, concluded this week that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could, for now, withhold more than $259 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota and require the state to provide piecemeal evidence that Medicaid reimbursements were legitimate before receiving them. The order was a boon to the Trump administration's new, aggressive anti-fraud campaign that was largely spurred by a recent multimillion-dollar welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota. Tostrud said in a 42-page order that Minnesota's lawsuit challenging the deferral was premature and that a preliminary injunction was unwarranted for numerous reasons. VANCE ANTI-FRAUD TASK FORCE SUSPENDS 221 CALIFORNIA HOSPICE AND HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS SO FAR "Some of the legal theories Minnesota asserts are novel, and the law does not support them," Tostrud said. The White House announced an anti-fraud task force in March, saying in an executive order that "staggering fraud and waste in Minnesota alone is a case in point." Trump tapped Vice President JD Vance as the fraud czar, and the task force has taken a multi-agency approach to its crackdown. CMS, led by Administrator Mehmet Oz, was enlisted to be more proactive with Medicaid by temporarily withholding reimbursements to states over potential instances of fraud rather than proven fraud. In addition to Minnesota, CMS is also eyeing Medicaid deferrals in California, New York and Maine, meaning more litigation could arise and lead to federal judges across the country weighing in and a potential escalation to higher courts. Minnesota’s notorious $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scandal first broke onto the national radar in 2022 and drew renewed national attention in 2025 as convic…