California owes Feds $53 MILLION for ‘improperly’ claimed Medicaid reimbursements for noncitizens

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inspector general's office of the US Department of Health and Human Services revealed that California had been using an outdated calculation method to calculate the amount of federal reimbursements to claim between Oct. 2018 and June 2019.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.

The inspector general's office issued a set of recommendations: "(1) refund to the Federal Government the improperly claimed Federal reimbursement of $52.7 million for capitation payments made on behalf of noncitizens with UIS and (2) work with CMS to determine the amount of any improperly claimed Federal reimbursement for capitation payments made on behalf of noncitizens with UIS for an agreed-upon period not covered by our audit."

California Department of Health Services told The National Desk that the state plans to pay back the federal government in full by June 30.

This revelation comes as California faces a massive budget deficit of at least $45 billion, prompting Gov. Newsom to slash nearly $200 million from law enforcement and judicial funding.