The Trump administration overstated New York’s Medicaid personal care users as 5 million when the real figure is about 450,000, undermining its own fraud probe. CMS head Dr. Oz based a high-profile investigation on that incorrect data, drawing criticism from analysts and state officials even as the review continues.

• CMS/Dr. Oz overstated New York's Medicaid personal care users as ~5 million (74%) when the actual figure is about 450,000 (6-7%), a data error CMS blames on misapplied billing codes.
• Despite admitting the error, CMS is continuing its fraud investigation into New York, part of a broader probe targeting at least five states (including California, Florida, Maine, Minnesota) led by VP JD Vance's task force, which already froze $243 million in Minnesota Medicaid payments.
• Oz's claim that New York accepts "easily distracted" as a qualifying condition is contradicted by state regulators, who say September rules actually tightened eligibility screening and that phrase appears nowhere in them.
• Critics, including a disabled New Yorker who relies on paid aides, call Oz's comparison of aides to unpaid family helpers insulting and warn the administration's adversarial approach undermines genuine anti-fraud collaboration.