Vice President JD Vance said the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and a federal task force are carrying out a major crackdown involving two of the largest Medicaid fraud cases in Minnesota history, including what officials described as the largest autism fraud scheme ever charged by the federal government.
“Our message is simple: if you’re committing fraud, we will find you, and we won’t rest until justice is served,” Vance wrote on X.
The “task force” Vance referred to appears to be the anti-fraud task force that President Donald Trump directed the vice president to lead through an executive order.
Last week, Vance had threatened to “turn off” federal funding for government health insurance programs in states that refuse to comply with the Trump administration’s crackdown on suspected fraud. The vice president said that states which failed to “get serious” about fraud would lose Medicaid and Medicare funding. Critics pushed back against this, alleging that Trump officials are using unfounded allegations to punish political rivals.
READ: J. D. Vance alleges SNAP fraud, claims dead people are collecting benefits (May 6, 2026)
Vance said the administration would review anti-fraud funding for states it believes have failed to adequately address fraud.
“Our goal here is not to do that. We don’t want to turn off any money,” Vance said. “What we want to do is ensure that people are taking fraud seriously.”
In a recent interview, Vance said states that receive large amounts of federal funding are allegedly failing to prevent fraud involving food assistance programs. He claimed the federal government lacks sufficient visibility into individual benefit recipients because funds are “block-granted to the states.”
“Shame that when your government gives out, let’s say, seven billion dollars to California for food stamp benefits, it doesn’t know a single recipient,” Vance said during the interview, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP.
Last month, Trump named Vance “fraud czar,” tasking him with investigating fraud, particularly in Democrat-run states. “His focus will be ‘EVERYWHERE,’ but primarily in those Blue States,” Trump said in Truth Social post, singling out California, Illinois, Minnesota, Maine and New York.
READ: JD Vance accuses California of SNAP fraud oversight failures (May 17, 2026)
Recently, Indian American Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy intensified calls for aggressive Medicaid fraud enforcement in Ohio, aligning his remarks with Vance’s.
As the issue of fraud becomes a key talking point for Republican leaders, some critics warn that this can overstate abuse rates and create fear among legitimate beneficiaries dependent on provisions like Medicaid coverage.
Some fact checkers have also pushed back against the claims made. For instance, a fact check by WMTV examined Vance’s claims that people without autistic children are misusing Maine’s Medicaid autism coverage. “There is evidence of payment problems within Maine’s autism-related Medicaid coverage, but the auditor cited incomplete paperwork and did not say anyone had fabricated autistic children,” the fact checking report said.