by Cristina Laila May. 13

Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday announced that the federal government is deferring $1.3 billion dollars in Medicaid reimbursements to California.

Vance was joined by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“We’re announcing that the federal government is deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from the state of California,” Vance said.

“And the simple reason is because the state of California has not taken fraud very seriously,” he said.

“We believe that at least half of the hospices in the entire area around Los Angeles are fraudulent,” Dr. Oz said later in the press conference.

“Today, we announce 800 of those hospices have been suspended. 800 hospices that last year charged the federal taxpayer $1.4 billion will no longer be paid,” Dr. Oz added.

Fox News reported:

Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force has withheld $1.4 billion in federal funding from home health and hospice providers nationwide, following a wave of suspensions enacted by an anti-fraud task force targeting operations in California, Minnesota and several other states.

Approximately 90% of the suspended providers have not reached out to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency tasked with combating fraud, waste and abuse, since payments have been suspended.

Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that they believe a lack of communication between alleged fraudulent providers and CMS indicates that the providers were not legitimate enterprises.

The suspended group includes long-term providers who have been pocketing federal funds for years while failing to communicate with CMS, a senior Trump administration source told Fox News Digital.

“The vice president’s task force continues to stop the flow of taxpayer funds before they fall into the hands of fraudsters and deliver savings to the American people,” a spokesperson for Vice President JD Vance told Fox News Digital. “This is great momentum in the fight for the President’s War on Fraud.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/05/vance-announces-federal-government-is-deferring-1-3/