--- title: "White House Caught With Pants Down As Medicaid Funding Portals Go Down" description: "Donald Trump's federal funding freeze is not supposed to affect Medicaid — so why can't officials log into their Medicaid funding portals?" date: "2025-01-28" modified: "2025-01-28" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/white-house-medicaid-portals" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "donald trump" - "federal budget" - "insurance" - "medicaid" --- # White House Caught With Pants Down As Medicaid Funding Portals Go Down ![Donald Trump's federal funding freeze is not supposed to affect Medicaid — so why can't officials log into their Medicaid funding portals?]() *\Image: Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty / Futurism\* President Donald Trump's White House [insists in a new memo]() that its [federal funding freeze]() shouldn't affect anyone's Medicaid — but state officials seem to be suggesting otherwise. Earlier in the week, the White House Office of Budget and Management (OMB) [sent a memo]() to all federal agencies temporarily pausing all federal loans and grants as part of a pushback against various mostly-imaginary foes like "Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering." Soon after that directive came down, [lawmakers began raising alarm bells]() about the order after discovering that state Medicaid officials across the country had been locked out of Payment Management Services, the Department of Health and Human Services portal they use to track and allocate the federal money that keeps their departments afloat. Indeed, the [portal website now warns]() that due "to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments." "Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments," the PMS site warning reads. As news of the strange blackout [began to sow chaos online](), the Trump administration launched an unconvincing attempt at damage control that seemed to contradict the payment portal itself. "Mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause," explained a second OMB memo that was sent to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, [per *ABC News*](). White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially sounded baffled when asked whether Medicaid payments would be affected, telling reporters that "I'll check back on that and get back to you." Later in the day, [she told *CBS*]() that the PMS issue isn't related to the funding freeze, but didn't elaborate on what might be causing it instead. Later still, she [wrote on X]() that the White House expects that "the portal will be back online shortly." We've reached out to both her office and the OMB to ask for clarity about this whole fiasco. For anyone who remembers [the first week of Trump's first presidency](), this level of ineptitude and disruption is relatively par for the course. With these orders [coming down at lightning]() — [and perhaps algorithmic]() — speed, however, it seems [Trump 2.0 is doing a speedrun]() of the havoc it wreaked last time. **More on Trump chaos:** [*Trump Administration Throws Cancer Research Into Turmoil*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()