Vice President JD Vance announced he is withholding Medicaid reimbursements from Minnesota while the administration investigates fraud in the state.
When asked by The Daily Signal if this plan should be viewed as a playbook for fighting fraud in the rest of the country, Vance said, “I think you can, certainly.”
“There are certain things that we’re doing in Minneapolis and Minnesota that I’m not gonna be able to do in other parts of the country, because the fraud is gonna be different in each place,” he said. “But yeah, I get this basic model of saying to people, ‘Hey, you get a massive amount of money to provide a service to people.’ Did you actually provide that service?”
In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump tapped Vance to lead the “war on fraud” throughout the country.
Vance announced the first move in this war on Wednesday—withholding reimbursements for $259.5 million in Medicaid funds for Minnesota pending investigation.
“The providers on the ground in Minnesota have actually already been paid. The state has paid those providers the money,” Vance said. “What we’re doing is we are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer.”
Curbing fraud shouldn’t be controversial, Vance told The Daily Signal.
“The fact that it’s even controversial, that we’re asking these questions as a government goes to show how much the culture of fraud has permeated Washington, D.C.,” Vance said.
“Think about this once you heard about people who take money from autistic children. They pretend their children, or some other person’s kid is autistic, they collect a fake check, they don’t provide an ounce of services, and then the very money that’s supposed to go to needy kids isn’t there anymore to help those needy children.”
Vance shared a story about fraudsters exploiting funding meant to provide after school programs to autistic children.
“The fact that we have so normalized this, and the fact that I guarantee there will be voices in the media, there’ll be voices in the state of Minnesota who say this is hurting children,” Vance said. “No, it’s hurting fraudsters.”
“The way to protect kids is to go after those fraudsters,” Vance added, “which is what we’re doing.”
Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has 60 days to respond to Vance about the matter.
“All we need the governor and the administration of Minnesota to do is something quite simple, which is to show that before you give Medicaid funds to somebody, you’re taking seriously whether they provided the services that they say that they’re providing,” Vance said.
“And the fact that there are so many people handing out millions and billions of dollars of federal Medicaid money without even confirming that they’re doing the thing that they say that they’re doing, it’s a disgrace,” Vance said. “It’s defrauding the American taxpayer, and we’re stopping it.”
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
There are no consequences for dems, just those that are paying. Free stuff will always be the hook dependent people are drawn to, and the loss of it will set that hook for life. It’s the perfect scam to create lifetime democrat voters to keep leftist democrats in office. Voters fraud is only one part of this problem, knowing fraud starts at leadership and those that allow it must be arrested, incarcerated and banned from public office. This keeps happening because our system allows for it.
This is great as accountability is needed for using wisely the taxpayer’s money. Of course, the Democrats will continue to cry “FOUL” and play their childish games. The MN government needs to be held accountable and those involved to be indicted for fraud and the money recovered. The Somalian government to get involved and turn over those in their country that have been involved.
REALITY — none of this will truly happen as the Democrats will stall everything.
Why is governor Walz being given 2 months to destroy evidence, organize a plan to falsely discredit the Trump administration, or dig up an AG who will gladly use false testimony for another law suit in order to pile on another distraction for our government to legally deal with?
Why aren’t these criminal attorneys and judges being disbarred???
Losing confidence in this administration.
Need answers now!
There are 50 states where fraud has been committed for decades not one official ever charged or sent to prison, for some reason law does not apply to them. There is no prison big enough to hold them all, should there be a judge finding them guilty. Solyndra anyone? All the charities and foundations?
So, does this mean that the Federal Government did NOT stop payments immediately in December 2025 (?), when we first heard about the massive Medicare/Medicaid fraud in Minnesota?
The first words that perfectly and factually describe Democrats from their outer appearances to their inner bone marrow are these:
– HABITUAL LIARS
– CORRUPT TO THE CORE
– MASTER FRAUDSTERS
– AMERICA-LAST
– ILLEGALS-FIRST
– PROTECTORS, SUPPORTERS and DEFENDERS OF VIOLENT CRIMINALS
– U.S. CONSTITUTION HATERS
– LOVE AND DEFEND SEXUAL PERVERSION OF ALL TYPES
– OPEN BORDERS FOR ALL
– DESPISERS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
– ELECTION CHEATERS
Thank you VP Vance for holding these people accountable. This is a great first step in cutting fraud.
YES! CHECK OUT MEDICAID! There are people that need it and can’t get it, and so many that don’t need it that get it!!!
Fraud is nationwide
We’re seeing the tip of the iceberg! How much money and for how long has this money been stolen? Billions? Sure! More? I’m afraid to hear the answer!
where are the govt. watchdogs that were supposed to prevent this fraud?
Excellent. This needs to be done in every state. A massive clean up. There is so much generational fraud in these programs. It has to end.
It is high time.
And look for a refund from the government and citizen that committed fraud.
It is great that we are catching the fraud in places like Minnesota but we are not asking the right questions. Why is the Federal Government involved in welfare in the first place? Where does the Constitution give the Federal Government authority to provide these funds? The entire Medicaid system violates the 10th Ammendment.
No joy, Mr. Vice President. We are out-gunned and out-manned.
and nothing will change
There is that line….the proof is in the pudding….” I don’t think fraud is being dealt with across the board by our feds…..they say one thing, do another. Until we see the numbers and see the arrests and imprisonments….I won’t accept the words that say they are doing something about it. We hear all kinds of talk……and that’s all. Talk.
You can’t argue morality with socialist dems.
GOOD! Go Vance and MAGA Trump!
Man no wonder his mom hit the pipe