California owes the federal government $52.7 million after Gov. Newsom's administration improperly claimed Medicaid reimbursements for non-citizens.
A recent inspector general report revealed that California illegally provided services to "noncitizens with unsatisfactory immigration status" through Medicaid reimbursement. Under federal law, states are prohibited from claiming such reimbursements for non-citizens unless in a medical emergency. This applies to all non-citizens, including refugees and asylum seekers.
An audit conducted by the inspector general's office of the US Department of Health and Human Services revealed that California had been using an outdated calculation method to calculate the amount of federal reimbursements to claim between Oct. 2018 and June 2019. This calculation did not consider the services provided to noncitizens, which are required to be financed by the state, as stated in the report.
