White House confirms Medicaid portal ‘outage’ but insists it won’t affect payments
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged that Medicaid portals were down today in a post on X, calling the issue an “outage” and writing:
“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.”
Key events
Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted the apparent freeze on Medicaid access for providers on X, writing, “41% of all births in the US are covered by Medicaid. Overnight, Republicans are destroying healthcare for millions of Americans – and it isn’t just Trump. Republican majorities in the House and the Senate are backing this illegal sabotage. They are ALL in on it. Every one.”
The federal grant funding pause could affect Medicaid access in Florida, too, according to Democratic congressman Maxwell Frost.
“Just confirmed that the Trump administration shutdown the Medicaid portal for Florida,” wrote Frost on X. “There are over 3.8 MILLION Floridians on Medicaid.”
The widespread reports that Medicaid portals were “down” in states across the US are coming even as the White House claims the Trump administration’s pause on federal grants would not affect the program.
Reports of Medicaid portals ‘down’ across country
Numerous lawmakers report that access to Medicaid funds had been frozen in states across the country, despite White House officials’ claims that it would not be affected by the federal grant pause.
“My office has heard from Community Health Centers across Massachusetts that are unable to access their Payment Management System at HHS,” wrote Massachusetts Representative Richard Neal on X. “This is how they get paid by the federal government. That’s 2 million people in MA whose health insurance is at risk.”
According to the Chicago Sun Times, officials were unable to access Medicaid funds across the state of Illinois.
“Can confirm. Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off,” wrote Connecticut senator Chris Murphy on X. “Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid. Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue.”
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden on X. “This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”
Fact-check: Leavitt claims Americans ‘safer’ because Trump deporting ‘violent criminals’
The claim: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Americans are “safer because of the violent criminals that President Trump is removing from our communities”.
The facts: Out of the nearly 1,200 arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on Sunday, nearly half of those detained did not have criminal records, according to NBC News.
Just over a half of those arrested that day – nearly 52% – were considered “criminal arrests”, and the rest appear to be non-violent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally, the outlet reports.
Fact-check: Trump claims that military ‘turned on water’ in California
The claim: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked to clarify Donald Trump’s comments last night that the US military entered California and “turned on the water” in the wake of the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles region.
The facts: California state officials have pushed back on Trump’s claim, saying that the federal government restarted water pumps after they were turned off for maintenance.
“The military did not enter California,” the state’s department of water resources said. “The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days.
“State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful,” it added.
Trump has continued to falsely claim that California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and other officials refused to provide water from the northern part of the state to fight the fires. He also falsely claimed that Newsom prioritised the preservation of endangered fish over public safety.
Medicaid and Snap to be excluded from federal funding freeze
Mandatory programs like Medicaid and Snap food benefits will be excluded from the federal funding pause ordered by Donald Trump, the White House’s office of management and budget told lawmakers in a memo, Reuters reports.
“[Any] program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause,” the memo said.
In response to a question about whether the White House would recognize Black History Month, which is celebrated in February, Leavitt skirted the question, saying that the administration will “celebrate American history and the contributions that all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed have made”.
Leavitt declined to comment on the impact of the federal grant freeze on colleges and universities.
Leavitt said the Trump administration believed his executive order on birthright citizenship was legal, and stated that “illegal immigrants who come to this country and have a child are not subject to the laws of this jurisdiction”.
Birthright citizenship – the right of anyone born in the US to full citizenship – is protected by the 14th amendment.
Leavitt defended Trump’s firing of career DoJ prosecutors who had participated in investigations into the president. “He is the executive of the executive branch and therefore he has the power to fire anyone within the executive branch that he wishes to,” said Leavitt.
Fact-check: Leavitt claims lacking legal residence a crime
The claim: “They illegally broke our nation’s laws and therefore they are criminals,” said Karoline Leavitt, referring to undocumented immigrants who have not been charged or convicted of crimes.
The facts: Being in the US without proper authorization is not a crime. It is a civil offense.
Leavitt says federal grant freeze wouldn’t impact direct assistance to individuals
Leavitt repeatedly said that the freeze on federal grant funding would not impact direct federal assistance to individuals. But she did not answer questions about how aid that flows through organizations to individuals, like Meals on Wheels, would be impacted.
She was also asked to confirm Medicaid would not be affected but sidestepped the question to repeat that Medicare and food stamps would not be impacted.
“He is focused on launching the largest mass deportation operation in American history of illegal criminals,” said Leavitt, in response to a question about whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement would prioritize violent offenders in deportation efforts. She then suggested that non-violent undocumented immigrants would be targeted equally.
“There’s only uncertainty in this room is amongst the media,” said Leavitt, in response to questions about a Monday decision to freeze federal grant funding, blaming the press for anxieties spurred by the measure.
Leavitt claimed the push would not affect funding for “individual assistance”, and said the freeze would primarily target culture war topics like diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
The implications of the pause on federal grants, which fund community programming across the country, remain unclear.
White House to give press credentials to any content creators who make ‘legitimate’ news content
“Whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster – if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium, you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House,” said Leavitt.
It is unclear how long TikTok will remain available in the US, given a law that went into effect last week effectively banning the app.
