The Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, has announced that his department will be conducting an investigation into alleged fraud in New York’s Medicaid program. Dr. Oz sent a letter and video message to New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, which includes “50 questions about the program” and demands CMS receive detailed information on “program integrity and provider screening and enrollment oversight”.
According to Dr. Oz, New York has the second-highest Medicaid budget in the country, spending over $100 billion a year, with an average of over $12,500 being spent on each beneficiary, 36% higher than the national average. Additionally, nearly 3 out of 4 enrollees in the program, almost 5 million people, have received personal care services within the last year. Dr. Oz argues “that level of utilization is unheard of, and [New York] has made personal care services the number one occupation” in the state. He implies, “New York has turned a program intended to help the most vulnerable into a massive jobs program reimbursed by federal taxpayers”.
Hochul received the letter just a week after the CMS announced it was “freezing nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding in Minnesota” over similar fraud accusations. Last month, the governors of Maine and California also received similar letters demanding more transparency and immediate action against alleged health program fraud. Horchul has been given 30 days to present a plan to CMS that addresses these potential sources of fraud within New York’s Medicaid program.
A spokesperson for Hochul responded to the allegations of fraud, saying, “Well before the Trump administration even took office, Governor Hochul was leading efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse—including sweeping CDPAP [Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program] reforms that shut down hundreds of wasteful Medicaid middlemen and saved over $2 billion for state and federal taxpayers while protecting home care for those who need it”.
The spokesperson went on to claim that the CMS’s probe was politically motivated, saying, “Let’s be clear about the real goal for Donald Trump and Washington Republicans: eliminating programs that support our most vulnerable”. In an interview on Wednesday, March 4, Hochul said she believes that the investigation is “an attempt by the Trump administration to rip healthcare away from everyday New Yorkers,” arguing CMS is only “looking at [Democratic-led] states and questioning what we do”. She assures New Yorkers that the investigation should not affect any current Medicaid coverage.
