Trump officials hit California with ‘largest ever’ freeze on Medicaid funds - CalMatters

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https://calmatters.org/health/2026/05/trump-medicaid-fraud-freeze-california/

The Trump administration is suspending $1.1 billion in Medicaid funding from California’s home health program over fraud concerns, a move that state health officials and health advocates say could harm hundreds of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities.

At the center of the dispute is California’s In-home Supportive Services, or IHSS, which helps about 900,000 older Californians and people with disabilities with daily activities so they can remain in their homes instead of institutional settings.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, called it the “largest deferral we’ve ever made” at a Wednesday press conference. He said California is an outlier – its home health spending is growing at twice the rate of other states – and that the federal government will withhold Medicaid funds until the state can convincingly explain why.