CMS Administrator Oz Claims Chinese, Russian, and Cuban Governments Are Running Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Rings on U.S. Taxpayers

Foreign Governments Allegedly Stealing Medicare Dollars

Mehmet Oz made extraordinary claims on Fox News Monday night.

According to Fox News, Oz — who now runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — told guest host Kayleigh McEnany that the Chinese government is involved in a major Medicaid fraud ring in New York, that Russia is suspected of involvement in fraud in Los Angeles, and that Cuba has been running a durable medical equipment scam in South Florida.

On the Cuba angle, Oz cited former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez directly. The claim: South Florida has twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers — think wheelchairs, canes — as it has McDonald's locations. The owners are predominantly Cuban. When investigators pursue them, they allegedly flee back to Cuba with the money.

Taxpayer-funded Medicare dollars, according to this account, would be going directly to Havana.

These Are Allegations, Not Convictions

Oz said "we believe" regarding Russian involvement. That's a working theory from a political appointee speaking on cable television — not a federal indictment.

The Chinese and Cuban claims were stated more assertively, but Oz offered no specific case numbers, no dollar amounts, and no named defendants on air. If the federal government has evidence that foreign state actors are systematically looting Medicare, the American public deserves more than a Fox News segment. It deserves criminal charges, named suspects, and documented evidence presented in public.

This story has been covered almost exclusively by right-leaning outlets. Breitbart ran both items. CNN, MSNBC, and the major newspapers have not given this significant coverage as of this writing. That silence tells its own story — but it cuts both ways.

What the Left Would Argue — And They'd Have a Point

Left-leaning commentators and Democrats would likely make several fair criticisms here.

First: Oz has a credibility problem. He's a TV doctor turned politician who won a Senate primary with Trump's backing and was then appointed to run a $1.5 trillion agency with zero government administration experience. Skepticism about his claims isn't unfair — it's warranted.

Second: Medicare fraud is bipartisan and domestic. The overwhelming majority of Medicare and Medicaid fraud is committed by American citizens and American companies — not foreign governments. The Department of Justice's own fraud strike force data, which is publicly available, shows domestic providers and billing operations as the primary offenders. Singling out China, Russia, and Cuba — all geopolitical adversaries — without equal scrutiny of domestic fraud could look like political theater.

Third: Oz's union attack is transparently partisan. His framing of New York's personal care worker program as a Democratic political patronage machine is an opinion dressed up as a policy critique. Left-leaning analysts at organizations like the Economic Policy Institute would argue these jobs provide critical home care services that keep elderly and disabled people out of expensive nursing homes — saving Medicaid money overall. They'd also argue unionization raises wages for some of the lowest-paid workers in the country.

The Union Dues Accusation Needs Numbers

On the New York personal care worker issue, Oz said the state has nearly 500,000 people employed in personal care services — the single largest job category in the state. He claims the federal government picks up most of the tab through Medicaid matching funds.

That part is verifiable. New York's Medicaid personal care and home health programs have been a documented fiscal concern for years. The state has consistently ranked first or second nationally in Medicaid spending per capita, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Oz's claim that newly unionized workers mean federal Medicaid dollars are now flowing into union dues — which then fund Democratic political operations — is more complicated. Union dues come out of worker wages, not directly from Medicaid reimbursements. The connection is real but indirect. It differs from a foreign government directly billing Medicare for fake wheelchairs.

Calling it "political patronage" is an editorial position. The underlying concern about program bloat has legitimate bipartisan backing — even the Obama administration pushed back on New York's Medicaid expansion at various points.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Getting Wrong

Right-leaning outlets are running Oz's claims largely unchallenged, treating allegations as established facts.

Left-leaning outlets are largely ignoring this story — which means they're not asking hard questions either. If a CMS administrator is going on television claiming foreign governments are stealing Medicare dollars, that's a story regardless of who's making the claim.

Both sides are falling short here.

The Bottom Line

Medicare and Medicaid fraud is a real, documented, massive problem. The government loses an estimated $100 billion annually to fraud, waste, and abuse across both programs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services' own Office of Inspector General. That's the federal government's own accounting.

If Oz has genuine evidence of state-sponsored foreign fraud rings, the response isn't a Fox News appearance. It's federal indictments, Justice Department press conferences, and named defendants in court.

Show the evidence. Until then, these are allegations from a politically-appointed TV doctor on a cable news show.

The fraud problem is real. Solutions require evidence, not talking points.