Dr. Mehmet Oz confronted employees at New York City senior care centers Tuesday as part of a federal investigation into suspected Medicaid fraud. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator claimed [1] the operation could involve criminal networks, including the “Chinese mafia.”
Oz personally participated in two of more than 80 visits conducted across the city. Many of those visits included arrests, while Oz delivered warning letters and questioned employees about billing records, attendance practices, and the use of taxpayer money.
The former television host visited Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care in Flushing, Queens. Oz told Fox News Digital that “the whole experience was suspicious” and described people entering one center without initially signing attendance documents.
Oz said employees began collecting signatures after he arrived with his team. At Kent, he challenged the director directly, saying, “The bills are much higher than they should be. The billing is for more people. It doesn’t look very crowded here.”
The unnamed director responded that Oz arrived at 8:30 a.m., before many patients had reached the facility, which has a capacity of 70 people. Oz countered that government billing suggested the center was operating at full capacity regularly.
The director maintained that Kent bills only for seniors who attend and requires signed attendance slips. Oz continued pressing over patients who reportedly attended two or three days each week while the center billed for five days, along with specialized transportation charges involving wheelchair users.
According to the director, the facility billed only for attendance in person, and some seniors visited more frequently than others. Oz also questioned the number of mahjong tables inside and whether federal Medicaid funds should support the popular game.
The director argued that mahjong helps seniors improve their cognitive abilities and exercise their fingers. Oz contrasted those activities with medical services such as heart surgery and cancer therapies while questioning whether taxpayers should be covering the center’s expenses.
At Evergreen Adult Day Care, Oz encountered another dispute over attendance and billing. Seniors were observed entering Kent without signing attendance sheets, although people who arrived later were required to sign in after Oz and his team appeared.
A manager claimed that 200 seniors visited three days each week, while 150 attended on the other two days. Oz said he could see only 25 people, while the center’s director said some patients were attending classes or visiting doctors.
“The numbers don’t seem to add up,” Oz said. He argued that repeated billing problems across hundreds of cases made it difficult to accept that the discrepancies were simply innocent errors.
Oz claimed criminal networks may be paying some individuals more than $1,000 to participate in attendance schemes that allow centers to overcharge the government. “It’s really a clubhouse for crime,” he said while describing the suspected conduct.
“Ma’am, this is fraud.”
Dr. Oz confronts a New York City senior day care director during a surprise visit, questioning Medicaid billing records that appear to show more seniors receiving services than are actually present.
Dr. Oz presses the director over the discrepancies as federal investigators expand their crackdown on suspected fraud at senior care facilities across the city. The director disputes the concerns, but Oz isn’t finished asking questions.
See what else investigators uncover during the surprise inspections: https://t.co/XXBgS4qi5W
@foxnewspolitics
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 20, 2026 [2]
New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was undertaking a “massive effort to combat fraud and abuse” involving Medicaid. The Daily Mail contacted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for comment.
The same day, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced a $25 million Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program. The White House said anyone providing a tip leading to a fraud conviction or significant federal enforcement action could qualify for as much as $30,000.
The Justice Department will administer the program, while Trump said payments would equal a 1% commission on fraud uncovered through a tip. Trump also said he would decide reward disputes involving multiple claimants, declaring, “I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions.”
Trump created a government fraud task force in March and placed Vance in charge. Vance said taxpayer dollars were being stolen and told potential tipsters, “The president has said it must stop. It is stopping. And if you want to help us stop it, you get to share in the rewards.”
BREAKING: President Trump and VP JD Vance just unveiled a $25 MILLION program that PAYS everyday Americans to expose FRAUD
The Somalis are going to start SNITCHING on each other left and right
You’ll get a COMMISSION for any fraud you expose and can prove.
1% on $400 MILLION in fraud, for example, is $4,000,000 CASH in your pocket.
It’s called the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, or WHIP, and it’ll be run by the DOJ.
Tips that lead to fraud convictions or major enforcement actions can earn up to $30,000.
It builds on Vance’s White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which is going after schemes like the $250 MILLION Feeding Our Future scam that stole from children’s nutrition programs.
LET’S GO!!! Time to get PAID for catching the crooks
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 20, 2026 [3]
The White House had said Trump would present a $10,000 check to 24-year-old right-wing influencer Nick Shirley. Shirley’s video alleged members of Minnesota’s Somali community operated fake childcare centers, although inspectors said the centers operated as expected.
In July, Fahima Mahamud pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting inflated reimbursement claims for meals allegedly served at her childcare center, according to the Justice Department. The White House said Mahamud appeared in Shirley’s video.
BREAKING: Nick Shirley, at 24, just stood next to the President of the United States and called out the media to its face.
He exposed the Minnesota fraud with a camera, and the press didn’t go after the fraudsters. His words: “When I expose fraud, instead the mainstream media investigating the fraud, they investigated me.”
He says people actually wanted to kill him for it.
Trump said what we’re all thinking: “They went after you instead of the fraudster. I’m not surprised.”
Shirley says the fraudsters bought Mercedes and sent our money overseas. Now regular Americans get paid to stop them.
One kid did the media’s job. Now they’re the story.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 20, 2026 [4]