A wide range of organizations and agencies that depend on federal health department funds say they have been locked out of the online system responsible for tracking and depositing their money, in the wake of the White House’s move to freeze funding across the Trump administration.
These include state Medicaid programs which have been unable to log into the Payment Management Services web portal, or PMS, run by the Department of Health and Human Services, which handles billions of dollars of payments every year.
The website currently 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.”
A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why recipients have been locked out of the portal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that Medicaid recipients and others who directly receive federal funding will continue to receive it. “It does not affect individual assistance that’s going to Americans,” she said. She also insisted the funding pause is “temporary.”
But other recipients of federal health dollars have also reported being locked out of the payment system, including Head Start early childhood education programs and community health centers.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed,” Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden posted on X.
“Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal,” Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii tweeted. “This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.”
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said he was assured Medicaid would not be affected.
“What the White House has told us just now is that Medicaid is not, categorically not, covered by this,” Hawley said. “In other words, there will be no interruption to Medicaid or Medicare or any grant that floats to individuals.”
A spokesperson for the National Association of Medicaid Directors says they have formally sought guidance from the Trump administration to explain the interruption.
Joann Alker of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families called on the administration to issue a statement clarifying that Medicaid should not be affected, warning it is a “major crisis” as states look to draw down funding for the month.
“Any pause in federal funding of Medicaid — the largest source of federal funding received by states — would be disastrous for states as they need to draw down federal funds to meet their financial obligations to the health care providers and health plans serving Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries,” Alker said.
In a statement ahead of the lockout, HSS also announced that it would be reevaluating “all programs, regulations, and guidance to ensure Federal taxpayer dollars are not being used to pay for or promote elective abortion” following a previous executive order by President Trump.
In a statement, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association warned that health centers could face “significant disruption” to operations even with a “temporary funding pause.”
“For many patients, Title X-funded health centers serve as their sole source of health care. The Title X family planning program is already chronically underfunded, and this executive action risks destabilizing a health provider network that is already operating under immense strain,” said Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the association.
Although the White House’s Leavitt said direct payments to Americans won’t be affected, she did not specifically address which grant programs will survive the funding pause.
Legal challenges to the freeze have already been filed by a coalition which includes the National Council of Nonprofits and the American Public Health Association, asking a federal judge for an emergency order to block the action from taking effect.
School lunches, other programs worry about impact of funding freeze
The implications of the federal grant pause go beyond HHS, but the full effects are still unknown.
It’s unclear whether the National School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools and school districts each month for the meals they serve children, will still receive funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program feeds about 28 million American schoolchildren each month.
Diane Pratt-Heavner, director of media relations at the School Nutrition Association, said her organization is asking the USDA for more information.
“We’re urging Congress to increase reimbursements for school meals given the financial crisis facing meal programs today, so certainly there’s just no room in the budget for missed reimbursements,” she said.
Meals on Wheels, a nonprofit organization that delivers about 250 million meals each year to more than 2 million seniors, receives federal grant funding. They’re not sure what’s next either.
“If in fact this order includes the Older Americans Act, this would presumably halt service to millions of vulnerable seniors who have no other means of purchasing or preparing meals,” a Meals on Wheels spokesperson said. “And the lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos for local Meals on Wheels providers not knowing for sure whether they should be serving meals today, which unfortunately means seniors will panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”
They added that since the program is already underfunded, local providers generally “don’t have the ability to absorb a blow like this, especially if it persists for any extended period.”
