NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is expanding its crackdown on state Medicaid programs, launching an investigation into suspected fraud in New York state. The development comes a week after the administration announced a freeze on nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding in Minnesota over similar allegations.
The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, announced Tuesday that the Trump administration has identified troubling trends in New York’s Medicaid program. He asked state officials to submit details within 30 days on how they are addressing fraud, waste and abuse in the program or risk delaying payments.
“Heart surgeons are trained to look at the numbers,” Oz, a renowned former heart surgeon, said in a video released Tuesday. “Right now, the numbers coming out of New York’s Medicaid program don’t add up.” The new investigation is part of a broader administration effort to crack down on fraud across the country. Federal officials say it’s necessary to curb the spiraling cost of care and protect taxpayers.
As many midterm voters worry about the cost of living, Trump has stepped up those efforts. He has announced that Vice President JD Vance will help balance the national budget, leading a nationwide campaign called the “war on fraud.” Democratic officials in the targeted states have condemned the Republican administration’s actions, calling them politically motivated and potentially devastating for the millions of people who rely on the health care network for low-income Americans.
New York’s Democratic governor says the move is politically motivated
In a letter to New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, Oz wrote that the state’s level of spending, combined with “serious concerns” about oversight of some Medicaid services, requires “immediate investigation, corrective action, and greater transparency.”
The letter highlights several areas of concern, including the high percentage of Medicaid beneficiaries in New York who receive personal care services for daily activities, such as bathing, personal hygiene, and meal preparation.
Rapidly rising Medicaid costs in New York have long been a problem for state governors and were among the top priorities of former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who for years grappled with the program’s steadily rising costs as the population ages and benefits increase.
The state program, which cost $115,6 billion in fiscal year 2025, provides health care to about one in three New Yorkers and spends more per person than Medicaid programs in any other U.S. state.
Hochul has also tried to rein in costs through a reform in how the home health care program is administered.
Asked by reporters Wednesday about Oz’s letter, Hochul said the Trump administration is targeting a Democratic-led state for political reasons. However, she added: “I’m going to have to stand up and tell them the truth and the facts, to prove them wrong. When there’s fraud, I’m going to help them fight it.”
Hochul’s office stated that the fraud investigation is an attempt by the Trump administration to take away health care from ordinary New Yorkers.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated in an emailed response that ensuring states implement federal regulations is “an essential part of the federal government’s oversight role.”
The New York investigation follows CMS measures in other Democratic-led states.
The New York investigation comes less than a week after CMS suspended Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Oz said the funds would only be disbursed after Minnesota implements “a comprehensive plan to take corrective action.”
Earlier, the administration had cited allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by residents of Somali origin in the Minneapolis area as one of the reasons for a broad operation by federal authorities in that area.
Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, called the new funding freeze “targeted retaliation.”
On Monday, Minnesota sued the Trump administration for delaying payments. The state is also appealing CMS’s decision to withhold $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding, a move announced in early January.
Earlier this year, Oz reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had sent letters to the Democratic governors of Maine and California, asking for more information or corrective action regarding allegations of fraud in public health programs in those states.
In the days after receiving Oz’s letter last month, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she would not be intimidated by the administration, calling the request “a political attack.” Oz’s 30-day deadline to respond or risk losing Medicaid funding is set to expire this week. A spokesman for Mills did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Maine is facing a political attack from a president who is using allegations of fraud as a pretext to send ICE agents and other federal agents, turned into instruments of pressure, into Democratic-led states, with devastating consequences.”
The Trump administration has sought at least twice in recent months to block funding for Democratic-led states, citing concerns about fraud. This has happened with child care subsidies and other social services programs in Minnesota, New York and three other states, as well as with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 22 states, which have refused to hand over data that the federal government says is needed to detect fraud.
