Trump Administration Warns States: Enforce Anti-Fraud Rules or Lose Medicaid Funding

Vice President JD Vance delivered a stark warning to states Thursday, threatening to cut federal Medicaid funding unless they comply with new anti-fraud statutes.

Speaking in Maine, Vance said the state’s Medicaid fraud is among the worst in the country, trailing only Minnesota and California.

“The government here is fleecing its own people,” Vance said, issuing his strongest rebuke yet for Maine Governor Janet Mills. “She’s doing absolutely nothing. Just looking the other way.”

When asked by a reporter how the administration would pursue not just fraud perpetrators but also those overseeing the problem, Vance explained a bottom-up approach.

“You never start with the boss,” the Vice President said. “You start with the low-level guys who then give me some sense of the criminal enterprise, and then you can go after the high-level fraud and the high-level crime.”

He criticized past inaction, noting authorities were “turning a blind eye to fraud under a million dollars” and failing to investigate those leading fraud rings. Vance pointed to signs in Minnesota of “very sophisticated stuff” already emerging.

The Vice President indicated the issue is deeply personal to him. He reiterated that states unable to enforce the new requirements will see funding cut.