After President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on federal grants and loans, Medicaid’s portals went down Tuesday afternoon, causing recipients to panic about their health insurance coverage.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the Medicaid outage Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter, but said payments would not be impacted.
Why It Matters
As of fall 2024, more than 74 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). These two government programs prevent low-income Americans who do not qualify for health insurance through their jobs from being without coverage.
At a White House press conference on Tuesday, Leavitt said that direct aid to individuals won’t be affected by the funding freeze. When asked about Medicaid, she did not rule out potential disruptions and said she would “check back on that.”
What To Know
Leavitt confirmed the Medicaid portal outages on Tuesday afternoon, writing on X: “The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly.”
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden also alerted Americans to the outage after Trump’s federal funding freeze.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” the Democrat said on X. “This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.”

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The White House ordered a pause on all federal grants, loans and financial assistance for government agencies on Monday. The memo outlined that “financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America.”
The memo also instructed agencies to submit “detailed information on any programs, projects, or activities subject to this pause” and determine whether programs “support or provide services, either directly or indirectly, to removable illegal aliens” or promote “gender ideology” or abortion.
What People Are Saying
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, at a White House briefing on Monday: “This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration. If agencies believe their programs are necessary and align with the president’s agenda, the Office of Management and Budget will review those policies.”
Smile Insurance Group CEO Chris Fong told Newsweek: “The funding freeze is very disconcerting. There are a lot of programs that rely heavily on the affected federal funds, including Medicaid. Medicaid is, in part, a federal grant-funded program. A loss or long-term suspension of these funds would significantly affect the state’s budget.”
What Happens Next
While the White House has said the Medicaid outage should not affect payments, health care providers have said they’re blocked from the government program’s payment portal.
“It is still unclear whether the freeze will include the funds allocated to the Medicaid program,” Fong said. “But it could be extremely detrimental to medical care for low-income individuals and families.”
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