(WDNews) – Medicaid payment portals are currently down nationwide following a funding freeze by the Trump administration, multiple sources report. The move is part of an effort by the new administration to review federal spending.
Medicaid, a health insurance program for low-income individuals, is run jointly by the federal government and states. Along with the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid covers over 79 million Americans, including nearly half of all U.S. children. It also funds about 40% of births in the country.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” said U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) in a widely shared social media post.
Later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the situation, stating the administration was “aware of the Medicaid website portal outage” and expected the system to “be back online shortly.” She added that payments to providers were still being made but did not explain the cause of the outage.
Federal Funding on Hold
The issue follows a broader freeze on federal grant funding. On Monday, Matthew Vaeth, Trump’s acting head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), directed all federal agencies to pause all financial disbursements and obligations temporarily. However, the order exempted Medicare and Social Security.
The Medicaid portal outage appears to be part of a larger disruption affecting various programs under the $1.8 trillion budget of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Other affected programs include Head Start, which provides childcare for low-income families. Administrators for Head Start have also reported payment system failures.
Additionally, some scientific agencies within HHS have paused public communications and meetings required for distributing research grants.
Lawmakers Caught Off Guard
Reports suggest that lawmakers were not informed about the Medicaid outage in advance. The Washington Post stated that while Medicaid was not specifically targeted in the funding freeze, it was impacted by the broader directive.
It remains unclear when the Medicaid portals will be fully restored.
