Mehmet Oz visits Ohio, calls for Medicaid fraud reform, while defending DeWine

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Donald Trump administration, Dr. Mehmet Oz, said on Tuesday that Ohio needs further reforms to address alleged Medicaid fraud, while also defending Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

Oz visited Ohio after DeWine was criticized by Republicans for failing to combat Medicaid fraud in the state, going so far as to say at the end of last year that it doesn’t happen, according to The Columbus Dispatch. After The Daily Wire published a series of reports on Medicaid fraud in Columbus, and federal officials responded, DeWine signed an executive order to address the fraud.

Oz said people who receive home health care services should have to prove they need it rather than go to a nursing facility, because that was the primary way the Medicaid fraudsters in Columbus were stealing money.

“Carrying groceries up the stairs might be important to keep you out of a nursing home because you don’t have anybody around you,” he said, according to the Columbus newspaper. “That’s possible. But we don’t want everybody hiring their kids to carry the groceries up the stairs.”

Oz also said he “trusts Gov. DeWine,” adding that since the United States has a “massive issue nationwide,” the federal and state officials should work together to battle the fraud, according to Signal Ohio.

DeWine requested a six-month moratorium on new businesses becoming Medicaid providers, and, according to Oz, the Trump administration granted the request, The Dispatch reported.

“We know that having someone in their own home is much, much cheaper, but it’s also better for them,” DeWine said, according to The Dispatch. “It’s better for their health than if they are in a nursing home.”

While that was happening, Vice President JD Vance met more than a dozen Republican state attorneys general at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the crackdown on fraud, according to Cleveland.com. Andy Wilson, who will soon serve as the temporary Attorney General, was present at the meeting.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who will leave his job on June 7, previously fulfilled his promise to battle Medicaid fraud by prosecuting those who stole more than $500,000 from American taxpayers.

“Fraud is not a victimless crime,” Vance said during the meeting, adding that fraudsters ultimately harm the low-income Americans, who benefit from these programs the most, according to the news source.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who will face Democratic candidate Amy Acton in the upcoming 2026 general election, used the opportunity to promise Ohioans he would crack down on Medicaid fraud, alleging it could save the state billions.

In addition to Medicaid fraud, Ohio lawmakers have been battling with other types of fraud, such as childcare fraud.

On Tuesday, the Ohio House Children and Human Services Committee amended some provisions of a childcare fraud bill, House Bill 649, introduced by state Reps. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., and D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, in February, according to The Ohio Capital Journal.