Those controversial Medicaid cuts come from two basic categories: cutting off able-bodied men who refuse to work, and not using Medicaid to provide health care for illegals.
Democrats downplay the first and deny the second is happening at all, despite massive evidence to the contrary.
But a funny thing happened this week that largely went unnoticed–a number of states are suing to prevent the federal government from using Medicaid data to find illegal aliens.
But they said illegals don’t get Medicaid. Gosh, how could this be? https://t.co/vKYJYKZYTw
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) July 3, 2025
Uh, wut? If it were true that no Medicaid money was going to illegal aliens, then the data wouldn’t help the feds track down illegals, right?
Colorado and 19 other states sued the federal government Tuesday to prevent Medicaid data from being used for immigration enforcement.
In June, the Department of Health and Human Services transferred data about people enrolled in Medicaid to the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The shared data included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, immigration status and information about medical claims made by residents of California, Illinois, Washington state and the District of Columbia.
Colorado, New York, Minnesota and Oregon received requests for similar data. At the time the sharing became public, Colorado wouldn’t say if whether it would comply.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in May that it was investigating whether states used any federal matching funds to cover undocumented people. The agency could cut off funding for undocumented people and recoup any that states had already spent without involving ICE.
Marc Williams, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said CMS gave the state until July 30 to send the data. The department is still clarifying some parts of the request, he said.
The multistate lawsuit, filed in the he U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that federal law only allows states and the federal government to share Medicaid enrollees’ personal data if necessary to run the program or to identify fraud.
I highlighted that last sentence to make a point that should be obvious: it is already fraud to use Medicaid money to pay for the health care of illegal aliens, even if the fraud is not committed by the individuals or health care systems by admitting that the recipients are not legal residents.
The state is committing fraud.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today increased federal oversight to stop states from misusing federal Medicaid dollars to cover health care for individuals who are in the country illegally. Under federal law, federal Medicaid funding is generally only available for emergency medical services for noncitizens with unsatisfactory immigration status who would otherwise be Medicaid-eligible, but some states have pushed the boundaries, putting taxpayers on the hook for benefits that are not allowed.
“Medicaid is not, and cannot be, a backdoor pathway to subsidize open borders,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “States have a duty to uphold the law and protect taxpayer funds. We are putting them on notice—CMS will not allow federal dollars to be diverted to cover those who are not lawfully eligible.”
As part of the action, CMS is ramping up financial oversight across the board to identify and stop improper spending. This includes:
- Focused evaluations of select state Medicaid spending reports (CMS-64 form submissions);
- In-depth reviews of select states’ financial management systems; and
- Assessing existing eligibility rules and policies to close loopholes and strengthen enforcement.
“Medicaid funds must serve American citizens in need and those legally entitled to benefits,” said CMS Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services Drew Snyder. “If states cannot or will not comply, CMS will step in.”
Democrats are playing a verbal shell game, pointing to federal law to say that Medicaid dollars can’t legally go to illegal aliens, so there is no money to be saved by cutting those funds off. At the same time, they are suing to hide the legal status of recipients to prevent them from facing ICE deportations–in other words, they are illegally spending Medicaid dollars for illegals and want to hide them from the feds.
Undocumented immigrants can’t receive Federal Medicare or Medicaid. You’re a member of Congress, you should know this. https://t.co/daLjNPpIYU
— Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (@SashaReneePerez) July 1, 2025
Of course, you may see the contradiction, but Democrats will assure you that these are two different issues. One is spending cuts, the other is immigration. The narratives don’t have to be consistent, right?
The Democrats claim no illegal aliens are on Medicaid. At the same time, suing to keep illegal aliens on Medicaid 😂
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 2, 2025
Cutting spending is immoral, and deporting people is immoral. Enough said.
If you were to sit down and analyze what Democrats say to make their arguments on various issues, you would see narrative fails like this all the time. But because the issues are discussed in different contexts, the contradictions don’t stand out to many people.
Immigration has many such cases. The Biden administration would insist that the border is secure, but that deporting people who got through that porous border would be an impossibly large task and horribly cruel. Besides, illegal immigrants–who aren’t really coming in in large numbers anyway–are the only thing propping up our economy.
Who will do the work? Not that the number of illegals is large, but without them, nothing would get done.
Huh?
The story is always changing to fit the desired result.
