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The federal funding freeze imposed by Donald Trump has escalated from chaos to crisis very quickly.
Reportedly, Medicaid portals are down.
This is a problem because, without the Medicaid portals, providers can’t get paid, payrolls will be missed, and the freeze will have an immediate economic impact.
Sam Stein of The Bulwark and MSNBC posted on X:
Multiple Dem Senators said they have received reports that Medicaid portals are down. At the WH briefing, Leavitt notably did not commit to Medicaid staying off the funding freeze.
One person I talked to — not a lawmaker — says this is real and a potential crisis unless fixed. Medicaid providers will not be able to get paid, payrolls will be missed. Red states, ironically, will be hit hardest as they get bigger % of Medicaid funds.
The states most reliant on federal money as a percentage of their state budget as of 2021 according to USA Facts are, “Montana led the states with the highest proportion of federal funding to the overall budget at 31.8%, followed by New Mexico (30.7%), Kentucky (30.1%), Louisiana (29.8%), and Alaska (29.0%).”
Four of those five states are dark red Trump states.
Medicaid is the most immediate crisis that will impact the red states, but the funding freeze itself will have a disproportionately negative impact on red states because the biggest Trump-supporting states tend to rely most on federal aid, with two notable exceptions being Iowa and South Dakota.
Trump appears to be being led around by the nose by The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 ideologues. Trump is going to be quickly sued over the funding freeze, but relief might not come soon enough to stop the economic pain.
The reality is that some of Trump’s biggest supporters will be the ones hurt the most, MAGA finds out the real cost of winning.
What do you think about Trump’s funding freeze backfiring? Share your thoughts in the comments below.