State Medicaid programs across the country are reporting they’ve lost access to federal payment portals one day after President Trump announced a freeze on federal grants and aid.
On Monday, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Matthew Vaeth issued a memo stating agencies must halt “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” to the “extent admissible by applicable law.”
On Tuesday, state Medicaid programs reported that they have been blocked from accessing the portals that provide states with federal funding.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.) wrote on X, “My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) similarly shared of states losing access.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about the disruption in state Medicaid programs accessing the payment portal on Tuesday.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance in Grant programs from the Trump Administration. Individual assistance that includes — I’m not naming everything that’s included but just to give you a few examples — Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause,” said Leavitt.
Leavitt insisted that Medicaid would not be affected by the pause but when asked for a guarantee that no person on Medicaid would see a cutoff, she said, “I’ll check back on that and get back to you.”
According to Medicaid.gov, nearly 80 million people in the U.S. were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in October 2024. Of those enrolled in either program, more than 37 million were children.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services told The Hill, “Our legal team is currently reviewing any impact on Medicaid or other state programs. Impact will depend upon how federal agencies interpret and apply the EO and OMB directive.”
“Massachusetts/MassHealth is experiencing some delays / system access issues with the Payment Management System (PMS), but it is unclear whether this is related to the OMB memo or coincidental. Other states have reported similar issues with PMS,” they added. “MassHealth is not halting any payments to providers, plans, or other payees.”
Melanie Cleveland, director of communications for the Alabama Medicaid Agency, told The Hill, “It is our understanding that access to the portal has been halted temporarily, and we are currently awaiting guidance from CMS.”
Christine Stuart, deputy director of communications for the Connecticut Department of Social Services, said, “The payment management system is unable to be accessed” when reached for comment.
A spokesperson for Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) told The Hill the program “is currently locked out of the Federal Payment Management System, this means that at this time AHCCCS is unable to draw down any federal funding including funding for our non-discretionary Title XIX and Title XXI programs.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for further comment.
