The latest reporting out of Queens has uncovered a remarkably lucrative business model: operate a social adult daycare, collect millions through New York’s Medicaid system — and make sure Albany’s political class knows your name.
Gov. Kathy Hochul received approximately $55,000 during her 2022 campaign from nine social adult daycare centers connected to Flushing’s booming senior-care industry, according to campaign records reviewed by the New York Post.
Those same nine businesses billed Medicaid roughly $49 million during that election year.
Two of the largest centers were reportedly empty when journalists visited them July 29. That observation alone does not prove fraud, and neither the facilities nor their operators have been charged with wrongdoing. But when supposedly busy providers are billing taxpayers by the millions, vacant activity rooms are not exactly reassuring.
New York Post reporter confront senior daycare centers in Flushing Queens after accusations of rampant fraud. pic.twitter.com/ybpWV8Nog5
— D. Scott @eclipsethis2003 (@eclipsethis2003) August 4, 2026
Bao Kang Adult Day Care operator Baoli Zhang personally contributed $10,000 to Hochul’s campaign, while the business supplied another $5,000. Companies associated with Zhang claimed at least $32 million in Medicaid-related payments between 2018 and 2024, the Post reported.
Jiemin Shang’s Livingwell Day Care contributed $5,000 in 2022 — the same year it reportedly billed Medicaid $5.8 million. Another business Shang operates, Finest Adult Day Care, contributed an additional $5,000.
Livingwell’s annual Medicaid billing reportedly rocketed from approximately $114,000 in 2018 to more than $8 million in 2024. Bao Kang’s payments climbed from about $1.5 million to $7.2 million over the same period.
🇺🇸BREAKING: NYC Adult Daycare Exposed by Nick Shirley Donated to Gov. Kathy Hochul
This fraudulent NYC adult daycare just got caught donating money to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) — the same year it billed Medicaid for $5.8 million.
Nick Shirley: “Livingwell received $8.6M in… pic.twitter.com/Wvhnk4YQQ6
— And We Know©🇺🇸 (@andweknow) August 13, 2026
The Post reported that Livingwell billed approximately $27 million between 2018 and 2024 for services associated with more than 26,000 unique patients. Yet when reporters entered the facility last month, they found no patients and were quickly asked to leave.
Bao Kang was similarly quiet during the newspaper’s visit.
Perhaps both reporters arrived during the world’s most perfectly synchronized senior lunch break. Or perhaps state investigators should stop admiring spreadsheets from Albany and start knocking on doors in Queens.
The problem reaches well beyond two businesses. Seventy-seven social adult daycare centers reportedly operate within a one-mile section of Flushing, collectively billing more than $100 million annually.
New York’s Department of Health has referred 387 social adult daycare centers for investigation since 2021, according to figures previously provided to CBS News. Roughly one-third were subsequently referred to the state attorney general for possible legal action.
New York’s Medicaid inspector general also lists home and community-based services as a continuing enforcement priority in its 2026 work plan, specifically emphasizing whether services were actually delivered and properly documented.
In other words, Albany already knows this sector demands scrutiny. The question is why the money kept roaring through the system while enforcement appeared to crawl behind it.
Zhang is not merely a daycare operator. He founded the Asian American Adult Daycare Association, an industry advocacy organization whose events have attracted prominent New York Democrats.
Campaign disclosures reportedly show Zhang contributed $7,800 to Rep. Grace Meng and $4,950 to state Sen. John Liu.
Meng told the Post that she welcomed “good faith investigations” while rejecting what she called “MAGA campaigns targeting Asian American senior citizens.”
That is a convenient rhetorical barricade, but an audit is not an ethnic attack. Taxpayers asking whether Medicaid paid for services that were actually provided is called oversight.
Liu offered a more useful answer. “If fraud and impropriety are suspected at any facilities, full investigations and prosecutions should be undertaken,” he said, while describing Zhang as a respected longtime community leader.
Fine. Then investigate the facilities, examine attendance records, compare patient locations with billing dates and follow every dollar. Respectability is not an exemption from arithmetic.
Hochul’s office said campaign contributions had “no influence on government decisions” and argued that her administration has saved taxpayers billions by pursuing Medicaid waste and fraud.
“Any facility caught breaking the law will be held accountable,” a spokesperson said. That is the correct promise. Now New Yorkers deserve evidence that it is being kept.
There is currently no public evidence establishing that Hochul intervened for these contributors, that the donations purchased favorable treatment or that Zhang, Shang or the named facilities committed fraud. Political donations are not proof of a payoff. But the combination of explosive taxpayer-funded revenue, politically connected operators, opaque ownership records and facilities found empty deserves more than a press-office assurance. It deserves subpoenas, unannounced inspections and an audit trail the public can see.
WIRE SOURCES:
- Owner of suspiciously vacant adult daycare billed Medicaid $32M while donating to Hochul and other Democrats — New York Post
- Inside New York’s medical-fraud capital, where senior centers bill Medicaid more than $100 million annually — New York Post
- New York Medicaid inspector general’s 2026 enforcement work plan
- New York Medicaid Inspector General: File a fraud allegation
- Alleged $38 million adult-daycare fraud scheme busted in Brooklyn — New York Post
