Dr. Oz: $91 Million More in Minn. Medicaid Funds Deferred
The Trump administration on Thursday notified Minnesota that it’s deferring an additional $91 million in Medicaid funding due to fresh concerns about vulnerabilities to fraud in state-run but federally funded social service programs.
The announcement from Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, cited searches by federal agents on Tuesday at childcare and learning centers and other sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that receive federal Medicaid funding.
“Minnesota state-run programs have raised serious red flags,” Oz said in a video statement on social media.
Gov. Tim Walz called the action part of the Trump administration’s retribution campaign against Minnesota.
Vice President JD Vance notified Walz in February that CMS was temporarily withholding $243 million because of fraud concerns that have dogged the Democrat governor’s administration.
Minnesota sued in response, warning it may have to cut healthcare for low-income families. A judge declined to grant a restraining order.
The deferral of $91 million comes in addition to the funds Vance said were being withheld earlier this year.
Of the latest tranche, $76 million is tied to 14 service categories that are considered highly vulnerable to fraud, Oz said. Another $14 million involves program integrity concerns, such as payments for ineligible individuals, including those who might be in the country illegally, he said.
Conservative influencer Nick Shirley posted a video in December that said members of Minnesota’s large Somali community were running fake childcare centers to collect federal subsidies.
The video caught the eye of the administration and conservative activists, though state inspectors discounted the allegations. Oz cited the video Thursday.
Vance: 186K Dead People Collecting SNAP Benefits
Vice President JD Vance said the anti-fraud task force he’s leading has found 186,000 dead people collecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
“We’ve got 186,000 dead people getting SNAP benefits. 186,000 dead Americans getting food stamps right now. I know the fake news media is going to say that the big headline from this speech is ‘JD Vance proposes that we take away food stamps,'” Vance said during an appearance at an Iowa rally Tuesday.
“That’s what they’re going to say. I actually think that we should take food stamps away from dead people. I am guilty of that. I think that’s a reasonable thing.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the task force to eliminate fraud in March.
Trump has made a crackdown on fraud a central part of his domestic agenda as voters have expressed concern about affordability ahead of November’s midterm elections.
That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted an immigration crackdown in the city, resulting in widespread protests.
Vance said Tuesday that finding fraud in the federal government is “kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite.”
He said he was “shocked every single day by the things” the task force has discovered.
“Brooke [Rollins] has found out that we’ve got 355,000 people on SNAP benefits receiving double benefits, that we’ve got 186,000 dead people getting SNAP benefits,” Vance said, referring to the agriculture secretary. “186,000 dead Americans getting food stamps right now.”
He said Rollins also told him she had found “there are people who have Lamborghinis who currently receive SNAP benefits.”
“I’m a pretty conservative guy, but I would think that like 95% of the United States of America would agree that if you are wealthy enough to afford a Lamborghini, then you are wealthy enough to not receive SNAP benefits from the American people,” said Vance. “Is that common sense?”
White House Warns States on Medicaid Fraud
Vice President JD Vance plans to warn all 50 states that failure to comply with federal anti-fraud laws could place Medicaid funding at risk, according to senior administration officials.
The Trump administration on Wednesday was expected to announce its plans to review state watchdog groups on state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs), The Wall Street Journal reported.
The agencies are federally funded and tasked with investigating Medicaid fraud and abuse.
Thomas Bell, inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, told state attorneys general in a letter that states failing to cooperate could see their Medicaid programs deemed out of compliance.
“This means your failure to do your job has put all of your state’s Medicaid funds in jeopardy,” Bell wrote in the letter obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Medicaid provides health coverage for millions of Americans, including low-income families, pregnant women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
The administration said the audit effort is aimed at ensuring taxpayer dollars are protected from fraud and abuse.
The move marks the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on government fraud, an initiative led by Vance, who has been labeled the administration’s “fraud czar” by Democrats critical of the effort.
The White House anti-fraud task force has already targeted alleged misconduct in Republican- and Democrat-led states.
Administration officials cited actions including suspending payments to hospice providers in California and durable medical equipment suppliers in Florida.
Senior administration officials said Vance worked with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson on plans to audit MFCUs before the White House formally launched its anti-fraud task force in March.
Officials stressed that not all state watchdog agencies were underperforming.
One administration official pointed to charges filed this week by the Maryland attorney general against individuals accused of operating a coordinated Medicaid fraud scheme.
The official said the case demonstrated the type of enforcement effort the administration expects states to pursue aggressively.
A senior White House official said the administration prefers to work with states to safeguard Medicaid funding, but warned there are consequences for noncompliance.
Bell’s letter outlined possible penalties ranging from corrective action plans to reductions in federal support for MFCUs.
The most severe option would involve withholding federal Medicaid funding from states found in violation.
Administration officials said freezing funds is not the preferred outcome but argued the current system is unsustainable without stronger enforcement measures.
The administration previously halted nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota following allegations that federal programs were improperly exploited by members of the state’s Somali community. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz condemned the decision as a “campaign of retribution.”
Vance defended the action at the time as necessary to protect taxpayers. “It is disgraceful that fraudsters out there are taking advantage of programs like Medicaid,” the vice president said.
Federal subpoena seeks NYU Langone gender-affirming care records
NYU Langone Hospitals received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern District of Texas seeking information related to patients younger than 18 who received gender-affirming care between 2020 and 2026.
The subpoena, which New York City-based NYU Langone said it received May 7, also requests the names of providers and others involved in offering that care during the timeframe, according to a statement posted to the health system’s website.
NYU Langone said the subpoena was one of several issued to institutions. The health system did not specify how many organizations received similar requests or provide details about the investigation.
Under New York’s Shield Law, entities that receive requests for information related to legally protected healthcare activity, including reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care, must make a reasonable attempt to notify affected individuals at least 30 days before complying with the request, according to the statement.
NYU Langone said it is evaluating its response to the subpoena and emphasized that it “takes the privacy of your protected health information very seriously.”
The health system said it will post updates on its website and direct questions to a dedicated email address.
The subpoena comes amid a broader Justice Department investigation into gender-affirming care for minors. In 2025, the department issued subpoenas to more than 20 physicians and clinics nationwide, including UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In that case, the Justice Department later agreed to narrow its request to anonymized patient records after patients raised privacy concerns in court.
1 Dead, 50 Others Showing Symptoms After Possible Norovirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship Carrying More Than 1,700 People
A 90-year-old passenger has died, and approximately 50 others are showing signs of illness after a suspected norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship docked in France.
On Tuesday, May 12, an Ambassador Cruise Line ship docked in Bordeaux with more than 1,700 passengers. Those on board — including crew members — have since been confined to the ship after the elderly passenger died of the suspected illness, U.K. outlets The Guardian, and The Times and French outlet France 24 reported.
About 50 other passengers are showing symptoms of the highly contagious infection, according to the outlets. Most of the 1,233 passengers are from the U.K. or Ireland.
S.C. Supreme Court Overturns Murdaugh’s Murder Convictions
The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions and life sentence of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh in the shooting deaths of his wife and younger son.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices said the conduct by the court clerk “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted. They also said the trial judge went too far in allowing evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes into his murder trial
But Murdaugh won’t be getting out of prison. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and currently is serving a 40-year federal sentence.
Cigna must go to trial over alleged failure to pay $6M for COVID testing
Cigna will face trial over a provider group’s allegations that the insurer did not pay $6 million in COVID-19 testing costs, according to a May 8 ruling in a Connecticut federal court.
Murphy Medical Associates filed its initial complaint against Cigna in November 2020. The practice had established COVID-19 testing sites in parts of Connecticut and New York. Murphy Medical argued the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act — as well as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act — required insurers to cover this testing.
On May 8, the judge dismissed claims brought by a patient found to not have Cigna coverage. However, the remaining claims will progress to trial. Prior to the May 8 order, Cigna said three other patients may also lack coverage, but the court did not consider them since the insurer brought up the concern for the first time in its reply brief.
Murphy Medical said it had appealed denials through Cigna’s internal process. While the insurer said it could not find those documents in Murphy Medical’s production, the judge said, “the defendants offer no evidence to suggest that records of these appeals do not exist within their own system, or that they conducted a search of their own system.”
The practice originally said Cigna owed $4.6 million but increased that amount to $6 million in an amended complaint from 2022. The most recent order said over 4,400 Cigna members had testing done.
Murphy Medical accused Cigna of making “defamatory and malicious statements,” as well. A few months after Murphy Medical’s initial complaint, Cigna accused the practice of price gouging. Murphy Medical also alleged reimbursement failures by Centene, but the judge eventually dismissed that case.
CMS freezes new hospice, home health enrollments amid fraud crackdown
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is imposing a six-month nationwide moratorium on new Medicare enrollments for hospices and home health agencies as part of a broader effort to combat fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare program.
CMS said the temporary freeze, announced in coordination with Vice President JD Vance’s Anti-Fraud Task Force, is intended to stop fraudulent providers from entering the Medicare system while the agency intensifies investigations into existing providers suspected of improper billing practices.
Here are seven things to know about the crackdown:
- According to a May 13 CMS news release, the moratorium applies to all applications for initial Medicare enrollment for hospices and home health agencies, as well as certain majority ownership changes that CMS said are often used to conceal control by fraudulent operators. Existing providers will not be affected and may continue serving Medicare beneficiaries.
- CMS said the nationwide approach is designed to prevent operators suspected of fraud from relocating across state lines to avoid detection. During the six-month moratorium, the agency said it plans to expand targeted investigations, use advanced data analytics and accelerate the removal of providers suspected of fraudulent activity from the Medicare program.
- The announcement follows a similar moratorium CMS implemented earlier this year targeting certain durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies companies. CMS described the actions as some of the largest fraud prevention measures in agency history.
- The agency also said recent anti-fraud efforts in Los Angeles led to the suspension of payments to 773 hospices and 23 home health agencies suspected of fraud, representing approximately $70 million in suspended funds.
- Additional anti-fraud measures outlined in the news release include revoking or deactivating providers engaged in fraudulent activity, conducting nationwide hospice site visits and increasing oversight of newly enrolled hospice providers in Arizona, California, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Texas.
- CMS also said it launched a public hospice scoring system aimed at identifying providers with concerning utilization, quality or compliance patterns.
- Other efforts include enhanced enrollment screening measures for high-risk home health agencies and expansion of a demonstration project allowing pre- and post-claim reviews of home health claims in several states, including Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.
