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The White House blamed an “outage” for locking out a wide range of organizations and agencies on Tuesday from the online systems responsible for drawing down federal health dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Multiple state Medicaid programs reported late Tuesday they have been able to resume accessing their payment systems after the nationwide lockout.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The interruption had sparked outcry from state governments, nonprofits and lawmakers in the wake of the Trump administration’s\u00a0move to freeze spending<\/a><\/span>\u00a0across the federal government. After legal challenges were filed against the funding freeze, a federal judge issued a stay\u00a0temporarily halting<\/a><\/span>\u00a0the move until she can hear arguments in the case.<\/p>\n State Medicaid agencies, federally funded\u00a0Head Start<\/a>\u00a0early education programs and\u00a0community health centers<\/a>\u00a0had been among those cut off from access to the\u00a0Payment Management Services<\/a>\u00a0web portal, or PMS, run by the Department of Health and Human Services, which handles billions of dollars of payments every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We have confirmed no payments have been affected \u2014 they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a\u00a0post<\/a>\u00a0on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n There was widespread confusion after Medicaid and other programs discovered they were locked out of the federal health payment system. Spokespeople for HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have not responded to requests for comment, amid the ongoing\u00a0communications “pause”<\/a><\/span>\u00a0imposed by the Trump administration at the department.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the National Association of Medicaid Directors said they had also sought an explanation.<\/p>\n “My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed,” Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0on X.<\/p>\n “Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal,” Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii tweeted. “This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.”<\/p>\n Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said he was assured Medicaid would not be affected.\u00a0<\/p>\n “What the White House has told us just now is that Medicaid is not, categorically not, covered by this,” Hawley said. “In other words, there will be no interruption to Medicaid or Medicare or any grant that floats to individuals.”<\/p>\n Joann Alker of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families had\u00a0called on<\/a>\u00a0the administration to issue a statement clarifying that\u00a0Medicaid<\/a><\/span>\u00a0should not be affected after its initial memo ordering the spending freeze late Monday, warning it is a\u00a0“major crisis”<\/a>\u00a0as states look to draw down funding for the month.<\/p>\n “Any pause in federal funding of Medicaid \u2014 the largest source of federal funding received by states \u2014 would be disastrous for states as they need to draw down federal funds to meet their financial obligations to the health care providers and health plans serving Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries,” Alker said.<\/p>\n Even as the payment systems come back online, those who rely on the grants say they worry that new “delays” on payments imposed by the Trump administration could inflict permanent damage on stretched-thin healthcare systems.<\/p>\n The HHS website currently warns that due “to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and\/or rejections of payments.”<\/p>\n In a statement ahead of the lockout, HHS\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0it would be reevaluating “all programs, regulations, and guidance to ensure Federal taxpayer dollars are not being used to pay for or promote elective abortion” following a previous\u00a0executive order<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n “Even with the best of intentions, these types of funding freezes can do tremendous harm. And could be irreversible to some communities. What we’re really talking about is a health center’s ability to pay salaries,” said Amanda Pears Kelly, CEO of the group Advocates for Community Health.\u00a0<\/p>\n The group lobbies on behalf of community health centers, which are subsidized by the federal government to offer health care to low-income communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pears Kelly said that health centers often rely on being able to request money every-other-week through the system, drawing down their grant to pay bills and make payroll for their staff. Without the money, she warned many health centers facing already slim margins could be forced to trim staff or close their doors.<\/p>\n “When the system’s down, and there’s no one to talk to to understand what they need to do, and then on top of that there’s an uncertain time to the delay, it’s paralyzing,” said Pears Kelly.<\/p>\nConfusion after Medicaid programs locked out<\/h2>\n
Health centers warn of “irreversible” consequences<\/h2>\n