THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).
- Dr. Mehmet Oz alleges organized criminal networks, including people he described as connected to the “Chinese mafia,” may be exploiting New York’s Medicaid-funded senior centers.
- Oz says some seniors are paid $1,000 to $1,200 to participate in attendance schemes that allow operators to bill taxpayers for services never provided.
- Federal and state investigators targeted more than 100 providers as Oz confronted Queens facilities over inflated bills, wheelchair charges and taxpayer-funded mahjong.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).
Dr. Mehmet Oz went looking for Medicaid fraud in New York City and came away describing something considerably bigger than a few questionable bills at the local senior center.
We’re talking alleged organized crime, cash payments to elderly participants, suspicious attendance records and a Medicaid operation the Trump administration believes could be funneling enormous sums of taxpayer money into criminal pockets.
Oz even raised the possibility that people connected to what he called the “Chinese mafia” are involved.
And here you thought senior daycare was mostly about bingo and afternoon snacks.
During a sweeping October 20 operation targeting adult day-care facilities across New York City, Oz accompanied federal investigators to Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care in Flushing, Queens.
More than 80 facilities received CMS visits and warning letters, while the broader federal-state investigation targeted more than 100 providers.
Oz told Fox News Digital that investigators suspect organized networks of offering seniors cash incentives to participate in arrangements that enable inflated Medicaid billing.
According to the administrator, some participants are allegedly paid between $1,000 and $1,200 to make their Medicaid identification information available and help operators submit claims for services that weren’t actually delivered.
That’s quite a senior benefit. Instead of paying for daycare, somebody allegedly pays you to show up — and sends Uncle Sam the bill.
Oz suggested individuals connected to the “Chinese mafia” could be orchestrating portions of the operation. He did not identify a particular criminal organization or publicly present evidence connecting a named group to the two centers he visited.
But the suspected fraud mechanisms are now under federal investigation, and the money involved is anything but pocket change.
An FBI audit cited in reporting on the raids found approximately $2.4 billion in Medicaid payments to New York social adult day-care programs from January 2019 through October 2024. Investigators are examining whether some of those funds were obtained fraudulently.
Oz also estimated that annual spending on the programs had approached $1 billion.
And the administrator wanted to know what the taxpayers were receiving for all that money.
At Kent Senior Care, Oz confronted a director about bills indicating substantially more activity than he observed inside the building.
“The bills are much higher than they should be,” Oz said. “The billing is for more people. It doesn’t look very crowded here.”
The director explained that Oz had arrived around 8:30 a.m., before many of the seniors were expected.
Oz wasn’t buying the explanation without a closer look at the records.
He questioned charges for specialized wheelchair transportation despite seeing few apparent wheelchair users. The director suggested that some billing codes might have been copied from earlier records rather than properly updated.
“Probably he just copy and pasted,” the director acknowledged.
Well, that’s comforting. When government money is involved, apparently the copy-and-paste function deserves its own federal auditor.
Then Oz spotted the mahjong tables.
“Should the American taxpayers be paying so folks can play mahjong?” he asked.
The director defended the game, explaining that it helps seniors socialize, exercise their fingers and improve memory.
Oz pointed out that while the activity might be free for participants, the government still picks up the tab.
“It’s free for them, not free for the taxpayers,” Oz replied.
Then he offered a comparison: Should federal Medicaid dollars support recreational games, or should that money go toward medical treatments and lifesaving care?
There’s nothing inherently improper about seniors playing mahjong. Adult day-care programs can legitimately provide social activities and supervision. The question is whether operators are billing Medicaid for covered services actually delivered to eligible participants.
And the questions didn’t stop at Kent.
At Evergreen Adult Day Care, a manager described attendance of roughly 200 seniors on some days and 150 on others.
Oz counted approximately 25 people.
“I’m struck by how few people are here as well,” he said. “This makes me wonder how they sustain these billing levels.”
Staff explained that other participants could be attending classes or medical appointments.
But investigators were also examining the facility’s attendance books, including entries dated October 22 and 23 — dates that hadn’t arrived when the October 20 inspection took place.
Those records were the centerpiece of our earlier report. Investigators had not established whether the entries represented completed attendance or advance scheduling.
What the newer reporting brings into sharper focus is the possibility that suspicious attendance figures are part of a wider system involving cash kickbacks, coordinated billing and organized operators.
“We know from the billing here that there’s no way this business is running in the way that they claim to be running without something being wrong,” Oz told reporters.
He went further, calling the suspected operation “a clubhouse for crime.”
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has also acknowledged the seriousness of the investigation, saying the state is cooperating in a major effort targeting alleged money laundering, kickbacks, improper billing and other misconduct.
The state’s Medicaid programs serve thousands of elderly New Yorkers who genuinely need assistance, and legitimate providers have a substantial interest in seeing fraudulent operators exposed.
The broader operation involved federal investigators, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, health-care fraud specialists and New York law enforcement.
Authorities have not publicly identified a single organization responsible for the alleged schemes at the two facilities Oz inspected, and the specific allegations against those centers remain under investigation.
Still, the emerging picture raises some rather extraordinary questions.
How many seniors actually attended? How many services were genuinely delivered? Who authorized the payments? And how much government money went to operators submitting claims that couldn’t survive an unannounced visit?
Because if Oz’s allegations about cash incentives and fabricated attendance are substantiated, this wasn’t merely a badly managed senior center.
It was a business model in which taxpayers paid the bills, participants allegedly collected a cut, and someone behind the operation walked away with the rest.
Not bad for a day’s work — unless the next visitor happens to be carrying an FBI badge.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).
- Daily Mail — Dr. Oz raises alleged “Chinese mafia” involvement in NYC senior-care fraud
- Fox News — Oz’s firsthand confrontations and allegations of $1,000–$1,200 cash payments
- New York Post — Medicaid fraud crackdown across NYC senior-care facilities
- Spectrum News/NY1 — More than 100 providers targeted; Hochul confirms state involvement
- RealClearPolitics — Earlier Nick Shirley and Oz reporting on alleged adult day-care fraud networks
