California Gov. Gavin Newsom fired back at Dr. Mehmet Oz after the former TV-doctor posted a video claiming Los Angeles is at the center of multibillion-dollar hospice and home-care fraud.
“Amazing to watch Dr. Oz cosplay as a fraud fighter,” Newsom’s press office posted on X, saying California addressed its hospice problem in 2022, when Oz “was busy pitching ‘miracle’ horse supplements to insomniacs on late-night TV.”
Newsom fired back at Dr. Oz after the former TV-doctor claimed LA is at the center of multibillion-dollar hospice and home-case fraud. AFP via Getty Images
“Amazing to watch Dr. Oz cosplay as a fraud fighter,” Newsom said of Oz Dr Oz / X
The governor’s clapback came hours after Oz posted a video of him touring LA to point out hospice facilities he said were fueling fraudulent activity.
“L.A. County has become an epicenter for health care fraud in America,” the White House Medicaid czar wrote. “Criminals have corrupted the system so much that fraud is now almost expected.
Oz said on Monday that the Trump administration is “aggressively” targeting the Russian and Armenian mob to crack down on medical fraud in the Golden State while threatening a major campaign against the alleged gangsters.
“This mafia seems to have taken over the system,” he said in another video.
The clips builds on news Oz broke earlier this month that hospice care in Los Angeles increased “sevenfold in the last five years” — a rate he told The Post sparked an investigation.
He continues to blame foreign gangsters, likely from Russia or Armenia, who are corrupting doctors and defrauding the medical system by enrolling ineligible patients in hospice care and billing for services not rendered.
Oz claimed that the “scale is huge” in California and makes the Medicaid fraud in Minnesota pale in comparison.
The former surgeon has been going head-to-head with Gov. Tim Walz since last month — and is withholding Medicaid funding until the Midwest state restores “the integrity” of its program.