Trump Administration Withholding $1.3 Billion of California Medicaid Reimbursements

We're announcing that the federal government is deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from the state of California. And the simple reason is because the state of California has not taken fraud very seriously, and because of that, we see a lot of the consequences that I just referenced. And again, let me highlight the fact that this really is two separate victims. So there are California taxpayers and American taxpayers who are being defrauded because California isn't taking its program seriously. But also, you have people who've been prescribed medications that they don't even need. Sometimes they've had drugs put into their bodies that they don't need because fraudsters have actually encouraged false prescriptions and false administration of medications. So think about this. You're just a person trying to go see a doctor. You assume that your doctor is doing the right thing, but these fraudulent health care providers are getting rich by giving people medications they don't even need. It's a defrauding of the American taxpayer, but it's a violation of the trust that should exist between every American and the people who prescribe the medications. That's one thing that we're targeting. And this is why we're taking this action, is because we want California to get serious about this fraud.