Dr. Oz Claims Chinese Crime Syndicate Linked to New York Medicaid Scandal

Dr. Mehmet Oz is blowing the whistle on what he claims is a massive Medicaid scandal.

The former TV host, 66, says an alleged Chinese crime syndicate has exploited New York’s program, and now, he’s demanding answers.

In an interview on 77 WABC on Sunday, July 19, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services claimed New York’s Medicaid program is plagued by fraud, outlining an alleged scheme involving millions of dollars in fraudulent medical bills and questioning the state’s roughly $110 billion in Medicaid spending.

“Social safety net programs are being defrauded. They’re being hurt oftentimes by foreign governments or foreign-run criminal syndicate organizations,” Oz said on The Cats Roundtable program on Sunday.

During a recent visit to Flushing, Queens, Oz highlighted a cluster of 64 social adult day care centers that primarily serve Chinese and Korean senior citizens. Oz and federal officials have raised concerns that some centers and affiliated pharmacies may have submitted millions of dollars in questionable Medicaid claims as part of alleged fraud schemes involving the public health insurance program.

He also questioned whether some of the social adult day care centers should continue receiving taxpayer support, with Medicaid costs divided between the federal government, which covers the majority of expenses, and state and local governments, which pay the remainder.

“Normally, the government doesn’t pay for it. In New York, they’ve created a mechanism to pay for these programs,” Oz told host John Catsimatidis.

He continued, “These are run, we believe, under the auspices of the Chinese organized criminal groups that are also doing human trafficking on the East Coast.”

Oz did not specify which organizations may be behind the alleged scheme, however, or provide further details to back his claims.

Joined on the tour by independent journalist Nick Shirley, Oz said he was shocked by the number of pharmacies in the area, which he also suspects are abusing Medicaid by bribing seniors to gain access to their Medicaid or Medicare cards and submitting fraudulent bills.

“There are a dozen pharmacies on one block. Why? They’re all fake. They’re taking these Medicare beneficiary numbers and manufacturing huge businesses to fund illegal activities,” Oz alleged.

“They pretend they’re sending this really expensive wheelchair [to a patient],” the TV doctor added. “They pretend that they’re sending expensive random medications. They’re doing appointments [patients] never go to. Tests they never get. Treatments they don’t receive or don’t need. And they begin to bankrupt all the legitimate people, because they make so much money … These programs have generated $2.1 billion against New York Medicaid.”

Oz also claimed New York has helped enable Medicaid’s soaring costs and alleged fraud, saying controversial programs like social adult day care and personal care services are a “feature” of the system, not just a “flaw.”

Earlier this year, Oz launched an investigation into New York’s Medicaid program, claiming it has become the most expensive in the nation per resident and is plagued by waste, fraud and abuse, according to a March report from the New York Post.

He aimed at Governor Kathy Hochul‘s administration, accusing the state of allowing costs to spiral. Oz also criticized New York’s personal care program, where family members are paid to care for loved ones at home, calling it a “jobs program” that benefits powerful unions and accusing the state of “using the federal government as a piggy bank.”

Oz said his office and the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are working alongside Vice President JD Vance, the IRS and other federal agencies through the White House Task Force on Fraud to crack down on waste and abuse in Medicaid.

Hochul, meanwhile, defended her management of the Medicaid program in a statement.

“Well before the Trump administration even took office, Governor Hochul was leading efforts to root out waste, fraud and abuse – including sweeping CDPAP [Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program], reforms that shut down hundreds of wasteful Medicaid middlemen and saved over $2 billion for state and federal taxpayers while protecting home care for those who need it,” a Hochul spokesperson said, per the New York Post.

The statement continued, “New York will continue to work with the federal government to identify bad actors — but let’s be clear about the real goal for President Donald Trump and Washington Republicans: eliminating programs that support our most vulnerable and ripping away healthcare from everyday New Yorkers.”