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Grassley puts Newsom in the hot seat, demands answers on wrongful payments to noncitizens

August 24, 2024 | | Print Article

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley is demanding answers regarding $52 million in Medicaid payments that California charged to the federal government on behalf of criminal aliens.

According to the Los Angeles Times, California charged $52 million to the federal government in Medicaid payments for “non-emergency” care provided to illegal aliens. While the feds’ Medicaid program covers “emergency” care for everybody, it doesn’t for illegals.

Earlier this summer, California was ordered by the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to repay the $52 million, asap. But months later, the $52 million remains unpaid, and Grassley would like to know why.

Grassley would also like to know why California has yet to adjust the method it’d used to determine that charging $52 million was OK.

How It Works

States may not charge Medicaid payments for “non-emergency” care provided to illegal aliens, known federally as “noncitizens with unsatisfactory immigration status.”

“Despite those restrictions, states can expand their Medicaid programs to provide additional services that are fully funded by the states rather than the federal government,” the Times notes. “California has gradually extended its Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, to provide coverage for immigrants in the country without legal authorization.”

“Under its program, it pays managed care plans a fixed amount each month for each Medi-Cal enrollee. California used a formula to determine how much of those payments went to ‘nonemergency services’ for immigrant patients whose care is not covered by the federal government, then subtracted it from the total to calculate how much went to their emergency care, which can be reimbursed under Medicaid,” according to the Times.

The formula is clearly faulty, yet California has yet to update it, Grassley noted in a letter written this week to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to Fox News.

The letter also included a list of questions that Grassley wanted Newsom to answer.

View the list below:

“Has California repaid any portion of the money it improperly received from the federal Medicaid program? If so, how much and when? If not, why not?”

“Has California reviewed any of its previous Form CMS-64 filings outside of the audit period? Has there been any communication from CMS on reviewing FMAP payments?”

“What is California’s current methodology to quantify its portion of reimbursable income? If the state still applies a proxy percentage, how is that percentage determined and what audit procedures will be used to ensure the percentage is accurate?”

“Has California found any historical communications with CMS regarding the use of a 39.87 proxy percentage? Provide all records.”

“Given that California has an almost $300 billion budget, why is the state using the ‘manual process’ to pay back the $52.7 million instead of immediately paying back the taxpayer in full?”

 

In a statement to Fox News, Grassley noted that President Joe Biden’s economic policies have led to Americans “struggling, and having to stretch their dollars in every which way.”

“Meanwhile, California is providing federal health insurance to ineligible illegal immigrants using taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” he added with disgust. “It’s a slap in the face, and we ought to know what CMS is doing to collect the improper reimbursements California confirmed it owed months ago.”

In a separate letter written to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Grassley asked whether California has repaid the $52 million yet and whether the agency has initiated a review to prevent this sort of incident from happening again.

All this comes as California continues to go out of its way to cater to the illegal aliens:

Vivek Saxena
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