The portals that states use to access Medicaid reimbursement have stopped working after the Trump administration ordered government agencies to pause federal grants pending a review for “woke” ideology.
Trump White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Tuesday that she didn’t know whether the program providing health care to more than 72 million low-income Americans had been impacted. Leavitt didn’t mention Medicaid as one of the direct-assistance programs that would be immune to the freeze.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,” Leavitt said in her first official briefing from the White House podium. “Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits … will not be impacted by this pause.”
She addressed the portal outage not long after on X.
“The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly,” the press secretary wrote.
Even so, there’s widespread uncertainty about whether Medicaid will be part of the Office of Management and Budget’s new directive to pause some federal assistance programs, which Democrats are decrying as illegal since it concerns spending that’s already been approved by Congress.
“I’ll check back on that and get back to you,” Leavitt had told reporters earlier regarding the Medicaid website.
The gulf between the reality emerging from states, nonprofits and small businesses and the spin from the White House — on taxpayer-funded programs that impact millions of people and cost the government trillions of tax dollars to administer — only added to the confusion.
Meanwhile, blue-state senators were sharing what they were learning. The outage reportedly impacted not only Medicaid, but Head Start and other health programs tied to the federal health department.
“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,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote on X.
“Can confirm. Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off. Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid. Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote. “Medicaid covers health care for millions of seniors and covers 40% of births in America.”
The OMB order said federal agencies should pause federal “financial assistance” grants at 5 p.m. Tuesday to review whether they further “woke gender ideology” or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals, which are off-limits in the new Trump administration.
Leavitt claimed several times that personal assistance programs would not be touched, but did not say what is actually on the chopping block.
“I have now been asked and answered this question four times. To individuals at home who receive direct assistance from the federal government, you will not be impacted by this federal freeze,” she said, adding, “This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration.”
“President Trump is looking out for you by issuing this pause because he is being a good steward of your tax dollars,” she added.