CNN —
The Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants sparked chaos and confusion at state Medicaid agencies on Tuesday.
Although the White House insisted that Medicaid, which provides health insurance to more than 72 million low-income Americans, was not affected by the freeze that it announced Monday evening, state Medicaid officials found themselves locked out of the federal funding portal for hours on Tuesday. They started to regain access to the system in the afternoon.
The administration sent conflicting messages about Medicaid. The Office of Management and Budget memo announcing the pause on Monday said Social Security, Medicare and direct assistance to individuals would not be affected, but did not mention Medicaid. The office issued a Q&A the following day stating that “mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) will continue without pause.”
But during the first White House press briefing of President Donald Trump’s second term, press secretary Karoline Leavitt could not immediately answer a question on whether Medicaid funding was included in the freeze, telling reporters that she would have to check and get back to them on whether enrollees might get cut off. Leavitt later posted on X that the White House knows the Medicaid portal is down and said it “will be back online shortly.”
“We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent,” she posted.
A federal judge on Tuesday afternoon temporarily blocked part of the Trump administration’s plans to freeze federal aid.
State Medicaid agencies lost access to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Payment Management Services (PMS) system on Tuesday.
A notice was posted in red on the PMS site stating: “Due to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments.”
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, posted on X on Tuesday afternoon. “This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”
Connecticut’s Department of Social Services told CNN that state Medicaid officials could not log in to the system on Tuesday morning but said access was restored in the afternoon. Medicaid policy experts also told CNN they were hearing reports of additional states being able to sign in.
State Medicaid agencies use the PMS system to draw down funds to pay hospitals, doctors and other providers that treat Medicaid recipients, as well as to pay insurers, which contract with states to cover enrollees. Many states access the system on a quarterly basis, but some draw down the needed funds near the end of each month to make payments at the start of the next one.
