Vance and CMS Administrator Oz freeze $259.5M in Minnesota Medicaid over fraud

Vice President JD Vance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz announced on February 25, 2026, that the administration would defer $259.5 million in federal Medicaid matching payments to Minnesota for Q4 2025, citing fraud concerns across 14 high-risk programs including autism care and non-medical transportation. CMS cited fraud cases including the $300 million Feeding Our Future pandemic aid theft as context. The announcement came one day after CMS had imposed $515 million in quarterly financial penalties on Minnesota for separate compliance violations.