Vice President JD Vance took the podium Wednesday afternoon, and dropped the biggest anti-fraud announcement of the Trump administration yet. A $1.34 billion Medicaid deferral against California. A nationwide moratorium on new hospice and home health licenses. A first-ever Medicaid War Room. And a 50-state ultimatum: prove you are prosecuting fraud, or lose your federal, anti-fraud funding.
As my colleague Ward Clark reported earlier on Wednesday, the task force has (so far) accomplshed a $1.4 billion suspension of fraudulent hospice and home health operators.
READ MORE: Big, Beautiful New Win: Vance Task Force Halts $1.4B in Hospice Fraud
‘That Is Stopping Today’: VP Vance, Dr. Oz Announce Pause in Medicaid Payments to MN Over Fraud
Some next level stuff from Vance:
This is just basic good government, pushing back on anyone who would frame the crackdown as partisan. “We want to protect Medicaid. We want to protect Medicare. But we can’t do that if the states that are administering those programs are allowing those programs to be fleeced by fraudsters.
.@VP on stopping rampant fraud:
“You may think of this as purely a red state or blue state issue. That’s actually not true […] This is just basic good government […]
We want to protect Medicaid. We want to protect Medicare. But we can’t do that if the states that are… pic.twitter.com/E57IDJMGAQ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 13, 2026
.@VP on stopping rampant fraud: “You may think of this as purely a red state or blue state issue. That’s actually not true […] This is just basic good government […] We want to protect Medicaid. We want to protect Medicare. But we can’t do that if the states that are administering those programs are allowing those programs to be fleeced by fraudsters. So we encourage — whether it’s California or New York or Maryland or Ohio — we encourage people to work with us.”
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz broke down the California deferral: $630 million in billing from the top 5 percent of outlier providers, $500 million tied to personal care spending growing at twice the national rate, and $200 million in questionable immigration-related expenditures. Oz called it “the largest deferral we’ve ever made.”
The hospice numbers were starker. One-third of all U.S. hospice providers are located in Los Angeles alone. Federal officials believe at least half are fraudulent, which is the context behind 800 suspensions. Of those 800 operators, fewer than 20 called to contest it. “At least 780 are not even trying to claim that they’re not fraudulent,” Vance said flatly.
UNBELIEVABLE. Vice President Vance just did a double take after hearing this wild stat dropped by Dr. Oz:
“You’re saying that we kicked off 800 fraudulent healthcare providers off of the Medicare system and not a single one of them called the government and said, ‘hey, you made… pic.twitter.com/EaJTz1lNoA
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) May 13, 2026
The state-level failures were just as damning. Hawaii: zero indictments through its entire Medicaid fraud program. New York: nine indictments on a $100 billion program. Indiana, with one-third of New York’s population, produced four times as many. “Hawaii, New York, California — they have completely not taken the fraud issue seriously,” Vance said.
.@VP: “Today, we are sending, across 50 Medicaid programs, letters that will require them to show that they are effectively and aggressively prosecuting Medicaid fraud in their states—and, if they do not… we are going to turn off the money that goes to these anti-fraud units.” pic.twitter.com/8ii4K1FnpR
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 13, 2026
Letters went out Wednesday to all 50 state Medicaid programs demanding proof of active fraud prosecution — or else.
🚨 JUST IN: JD Vance CONFIRMS the Trump administration is PROBING governors for potential CRIMINAL liability in covering up fraud
“We’ve seen reports of, for example, Gavin Newsom in California or Tim Walz in Minnesota getting these reports that there were fraudulent activities… pic.twitter.com/LuXFfZyaIC
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 13, 2026
JUST IN: JD Vance CONFIRMS the Trump administration is PROBING governors for potential CRIMINAL liability in covering up fraud “We’ve seen reports of, for example, Gavin Newsom in California or Tim Walz in Minnesota getting these reports that there were fraudulent activities happening in their states and they’re looking the other way.” Walz and Newsom are going to have some sleepless nights coming up
Task force executive director Andrew Ferguson put it plainly: “Some states have turned anti-fraud money into a jobs program for blue state lawyers.”
For states that won’t act, the administration now has the tools to act for them. The new Medicaid War Room, a cross-agency, real-time claims monitoring operation, pairs CMS, the DOJ, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and state partners to stop payments before they go out the door. Its predecessor, the Medicare Fraud War Room, has already stopped over $2 billion since launching in 2025. Oz’s bottom line: fixing Medicare fraud alone could “double the life expectancy of the Medicare Trust Fund.”
Vance also put Democratic governors on notice, saying the administration is examining whether Gavin Newsom and Tim Walz “looking the other way” on known fraud rises to criminal liability. Minnesota already sued over an earlier deferral, and lost its bid for a restraining order.
OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, in an email, called the announcement “music to the ears of every conservative state financial officer.” His message to the White House: “Look no further, help is already here.” On Wednesday, Vance said:
We are not going to have a generous country if Americans think that they’re paying their taxes not to needy people, but to fraudsters.
With roughly $94 billion in improper Medicare and Medicaid payments estimated for 2025 alone, the administration is signaling this crackdown is only getting started.
You can watch the full event below:
🚨FULL REMARKS: Vice President JD Vance’s Press Conference on Anti-Fraud Initiatives pic.twitter.com/My6kakZwJd
— AJ Huber (@Huberton) May 13, 2026
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