Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz is taking his fraud-busting effort to all 50 states.<\/p>\n
At POLITICO’s health care summit on Tuesday, Oz unveiled a nationwide plan to crack down on alleged Medicaid fraud, announcing that his agency this week will require all states to submit a plan within 30 days on how they will reaccredit Medicaid providers.<\/p>\n
“We’re asking states to address that problem … red and blue, all of them,” said Oz, a medical doctor who popularized his nickname Dr. Oz when he was a TV show host. As CMS Administrator, Oz oversees the nation’s largest health insurance programs.<\/p>\n
“If you don’t take it seriously, it signals to us that we have to approach the audit more aggressively,” he said.<\/p>\n
Oz’s comments come as the Trump administration and Congress push to deliver an anti-fraud message<\/u>","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/04\/05\/how-the-gops-fraud-crackdown-could-impact-the-midterms-00859091","_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87b0001","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87b0002","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Pay attention to anti-fraud messages<\/u> In an effort to blunt Democratic attacks on health care affordability ahead of the November midterm elections. Democrats are expected to leverage Obamacare premium increases and more than $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts in Trump’s domestic policy package last year against their GOP counterparts during the campaign.<\/p>\n
In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump declared a “war on fraud” and put Vice President J.D. Vance in charge of the effort. Oz, the high-profile face of the campaign, has released a series of viral videos in recent weeks highlighting his agency’s actions and launching investigations in mostly Democratic-led states.<\/p>\n
So far, Oz has sent letters to California, Florida, Maine and New York alleging fraud in their Medicaid programs. CMS last month approve a plan<\/u>Gave","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/2026\/03\/cms-approves-minnesota-plan-to-tackle-fraud-after-threat-of-funding-cuts-00838959","_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87b0003","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87b0004","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>approved a plan<\/u><\/a> Presented by Minnesota to combat Medicaid fraud after the state threatened to cut $2 billion in future Medicaid payments due to noncompliance.<\/p>\n But Oz suffered a major blow earlier this month when his agency acknowledged that an error in its analysis of fraud in New York’s Medicaid program had greatly overstated the number of people enrolled with personal care services. The Associated Press<\/u>report from","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/new-york-medicaid-fraud-dr-oz-trump-342285a3c5d5b71f36ce3f3c77ec72c5","_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87c0000","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87c0001","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Associated Press report<\/u><\/a>. Oz claimed that New York provided personal care services to 5 million Medicaid enrollees, but the actual number was about 450,000.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At Tuesday’s summit, Oz defended the administration’s fraud-busting efforts and Medicaid cuts, and called the upcoming work requirements a “beautiful tool” to help able-bodied Americans re-enter the US workforce.<\/p>\n He said, “I love Medicaid. I can’t say it more enthusiastically, and when you love something, you protect it. You don’t let it betray you.”<\/p>\n Oz also dismissed Democratic concerns that the loss of enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which expired at the end of December, has left millions of Americans uninsured. A National Enrollment Snapshot<\/u>","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/fact-Sheets\/marketplace-2026-open-enrollment-period-report-national-snapshot-2","_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87c0003","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b0be-d084-a1bd-fefeb87c0004","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>National Enrollment Snapshot<\/u><\/a> Obamacare coverage released by CMS in January 2026 found that signups this year were down 1.2 million from last year, to 22.9 million, a 5 percent decline.<\/p>\n “We didn’t see any massive deviation from the system,” Oz said. “Democrats are making this a political football because they want to put some of the blame on Republicans on health care.”<\/p>\n