Trump administration admits it made a mistake in Medicaid fraud accusations

Despite Donald Trump’s troubled history with fraud allegationsthe president and his staff have spent the previous few months leaning into the concept they’re properly suited to a campaign in opposition to the misuse of public assets. To that finish, the White House has appointed a “fraud czar,” and in Trump’s current State of the Union tackle, I have announced what he described as a “war on fraud.”

More not too long ago, the administration additionally shaped a fraud “task force,” to be led by Vice President JD Vance, that Trump said would goal fraud “primarily in those Blue States,” together with New York.

The administration has by no means even tried to provide proof to substantiate claims that fraud is extra frequent in Democratic-led states, however the president has by no means been particularly in proof.

As these efforts took form, Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, launched a secure that appeared relatively severe. Last month, the previous tv persona stated New York’s Medicaid program final 12 months offered private care companies, overlaying issues resembling bathing and meal preparation, to roughly 5 million individuals.

“That level of utilization is unheard of,” Oz stated in a social media videoin which he levied the allegations. He added that New York must “come clean about its Medicaid program.”

Taken at face worth, Oz’s accusations may need appeared relatively severe. There are 6.8 million New Yorkers enrolled in Medicaid, and if 5 million of them acquired private care companies final 12 months, it would increase respectable questions.

But the CMS chief was unsuitable. The quantity wasn’t 5 million, it was 450,000. Oz was off by a issue of 11. (He additionally made false claims about eligibility for this system. The video I posted stays on-line as of this writing.)