Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., in December. Oz said Tuesday that the Trump administration would require each state within 30 days to submit a plan to reauthorize health care providers participating in their Medicaid programs. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Tuesday that the Trump administration will require each state within 30 days to submit a plan to reauthorize health care providers participating in their Medicaid programs.
The Trump administration has pledged to root out what it calls rampant fraud in state Medicaid programs. But so far it has focused almost exclusively on Democratic-led states, even though government benefit fraud is no more common in Democratic-led states than in Republican-led states, according to federal data.
Oz said Tuesday that the administration would expand its anti-Medicaid fraud efforts to all 50 states.
“We’re asking states to own up to this problem… all the red states and all the blue states,” Oz said at the health care summit hosted by Politico. “If you don’t take this seriously, it means to us that we may have to approach audits… more aggressively,” he added.
In announcing earlier this month that Vice President J.D. Vance would lead the administration’s anti-fraud efforts, President Donald Trump – he said on Truth Social that Vance will focus on fraud “EVERYWHERE,” but especially in these Blue States, where IRREGULAR DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS like those in California, Illinois, Minnesota (beware of Somalia!), Maine, New York, and many others have had a “free for all” unprecedented theft of taxpayer money.”
In an interview with Politico, Oz said his agency has already stopped payments to about 450 hospices and home health centers in Los Angeles. Oz also commented on this decision refrain yourself $259.5 million in federal Medicaid payments to Minnesota, noting that the state will have an opportunity “to go back and prove to us that it actually has a backup of some of the bills that it sent us.”
Andy Schneider, a research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, expressed satisfaction that Oz “did not use this forum to announce further deferrals for Minnesota or other states.”
“He may be starting to realize that withholding federal funds from states doesn’t actually help reduce Medicaid fraud. Time will tell,” Schneider said.
Laith Quasem, an attorney with Seattle-based Chapman Law Group who represents Medicaid and Medicare providers and providers in fraud cases, said many of his clients have been targeted in California and had their payments suspended or removed from government programs.
“I really think CMS is really abusing its discretion right now and revoking or suspending eligibility, but asking questions later,” Quasem said.
“Some of them may certainly be warranted. There are always concerns in any administration about the integrity of the program,” he said. “However, during a crackdown, simply putting suppliers out of business without a credible allegation of fraud is unacceptable.”
“Let’s say you run a hospice, right? What do you do if you’re not getting paid? You’re not going to be able to keep the doors open,” he said. “What do you do with your patients?”
Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at: schatlani@stateline.org
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