{"id":153264,"date":"2026-03-05T02:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/153264\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T02:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:07:10","slug":"trump-administration-launches-medicaid-fraud-probe-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/153264\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration launches Medicaid fraud probe in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is expanding its crackdown on state Medicaid programs to New York, launching a fraud probe in the state a week after it said it was freezing nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding<\/a> in Minnesota over similar accusations.<\/p>\n

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz<\/a> announced Tuesday that the Trump administration identified concerning trends in New York\u2019s Medicaid program and demanded that state officials provide details about their handling of fraud, waste and abuse within 30 days or risk deferred payments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart surgeons are trained to look at the numbers,\u201d Oz, a former celebrity heart surgeon, said in a video on Tuesday. \u201cRight now, the numbers coming out of New York\u2019s Medicaid program don\u2019t add up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new investigation is part of an administration-wide initiative to address fraud around the country, which federal officials say is needed to rein in runaway spending and protect taxpayers. With many midterm voters concerned about affordability, Trump has ramped up those efforts, announcing that Vice President JD Vance would help balance the nation\u2019s budget by spearheading a national \u201cwar on fraud.\u201d <\/p>\n

Targeted Democratic state officials<\/a> have decried the Republican administration\u2019s moves as politically motivated and potentially disastrous for the millions of people who rely on the health care safety net for low-income Americans. <\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Democratic governor says the move is politically targeted<\/p>\n

In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, Oz wrote that the state\u2019s spending levels combined with \u201cserious concerns\u201d about its oversight of certain Medicaid services demand \u201cimmediate investigation, corrective action and enhanced transparency.\u201d <\/p>\n

The letter flagged specific areas of concern, including a high proportion of New York\u2019s Medicaid beneficiaries receiving personal care services related to daily living activities like bathing, grooming and meal preparation.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s soaring Medicaid costs have long vexed the state\u2019s governors and were a top priority of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who grappled for years with the program\u2019s spiraling price tag as residents age and receive additional benefits. The state\u2019s program, which cost $115.6 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, provides health care for about 1 in 3 New Yorkers and spends more per person for care than Medicaid programs in any other state.<\/p>\n

Hochul has also tried to rein in costs through an overhaul of how a home health care program is administered.<\/p>\n

Asked Wednesday by reporters about Oz\u2019s letter, Hochul said the Trump administration is targeting a Democrat-led state for political reasons but added, \u201cI will have to stand up and show them the truth and show them the facts, that they\u2019re wrong. When there is fraud I will help them fight it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s office said the fraud investigation was an attempt by the Trump administration to rip health care away from everyday New Yorkers. CMS said in an emailed statement that ensuring states comply with federal rules is \u201ca core part of the agency\u2019s federal oversight role.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York investigation follows CMS action in other blue states<\/p>\n

The New York investigation comes less than a week after CMS halted Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Oz said the money would be delivered only after Minnesota implements \u201ca comprehensive corrective action plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration had previously cited allegations of fraud<\/a> involving day care centers run by Minneapolis-area Somali residents as a reason for a massive federal enforcement surge there. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called the new funding freeze \u201ctargeted retribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minnesota on Monday sued the Trump administration<\/a> over the deferred payments. The state is also appealing CMS withholding $2 billion in annual Medicaid funds<\/a> announced in early January.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Oz announced that CMS had sent letters to Democratic governors in Maine and California demanding more information or corrective action on alleged fraud in government health programs in those states. <\/p>\n

In the days after receiving Oz\u2019s letter last month, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she wouldn\u2019t be intimidated by the administration and called the request \u201ca political attack.\u201d The 30-day timeline he gave her to respond or risk losing Medicaid payments is set to expire this week. A spokesperson for Mills didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Maine is facing a political attack from a president who uses allegations of fraud as a pretense to send ICE and other weaponized federal agents into states led by Democrats with devastating consequences. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration has sought to withhold funding from Democratic-led states at least two other times in recent months citing fraud concerns. It happened with child care subsidies<\/a> and other social services programs in Minnesota, New York and three other states and with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program<\/a> in 22 states that have declined to hand over data that the federal government says is needed to catch fraud. <\/p>\n

In both those cases, judges have ruled that the money must continue to flow for now.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is expanding its crackdown on state Medicaid programs to New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[80,288,153,417,16715,2953,20666,12828,11749,426,5315,5800,9,11,10,87,30097,423,901,2852,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-153264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-andrew-cuomo","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-government-programs","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-health-care-industry","15":"tag-janet-mills","16":"tag-jd-vance","17":"tag-kathy-hochul","18":"tag-maine","19":"tag-minnesota","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-headlines","22":"tag-new-york-news","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-tim-walz","25":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-united-states-government","28":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}