California improperly used $52.7 million in federal Medicaid funds to pay for nonemergency care for Medicaid recipients without legal status, according to an audit from HHS' Office of Inspector General.
The state plans to repay the amount in full by the end of June, the Los Angeles Times reported June 5.
The OIG's audit, published May 21, found the state improperly calculated the amount it spent on nonemergency care for noncitizen Medicaid recipients. Federal law prohibits Medicaid funds from being spent on nonemergency care for immigrants without legal status. States may extend Medicaid benefits to noncitizens, but these must be paid for using state funding only.
California improperly claimed $52.7 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements between 2018 and 2019, the OIG found.
The state used a percentage to calculate what percentage of Medicaid spending on noncitizen recipients went to emergency care and billed the federal government for this emergency care. The percentage had not been recalculated in several years and was no longer correct, leading to overpayments, according to the OIG.
The refund is already accounted for in California's state budget and will not lead to any service cuts, officials told the Times. The state is facing a $44.9 billion budget shortfall.