Democratic Govs. Kathy Hochul and Gavin Newsom turned a blind eye to the billions of dollars in Medicaid fraud they let go down the drain, Medicaid czar Dr. Mehmet Oz alleged Sunday.
“Some governors have not been serious about these problems. I’m going to single out [Tim] Walz in Minnesota, Gov. [Gavin] Newsom in California and Gov. [Kathy] Hochul here in New York,” Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on 77 WABC’s “Cats Roundtable” program.
Medicaid is the public health insurance program for those in need, with costs split among the federal, state and local governments.
Oz announced last week that his office is conducting an extensive probe of the Hochul…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.