The Maine Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday released a statement in apparent response to a claim by Dr. Mehmet Oz a day earlier that the state’s Medicaid distribution is riddled with fraud.
“When DHHS identifies or is made aware of a credible allegation of MaineCare fraud, it refers the matter to appropriate law enforcement, including the Office of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, for investigation and possible prosecution,” the department said.
MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, provides health coverage to roughly one in three Maine residents, including more than half of the state’s children, according to the department.
In June, DHHS said it terminated two provider contracts on an emergency basis “due to credible complaints of serious health and safety risks,” suspended payments to five providers based on “credible allegations of fraud,” and “disenrolled 28 agencies that failed to submit a claim within one year of enrollment, consistent with program requirements.”
Additionally, the department pointed to a longer list of actions it has taken since 2019 under the administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.
The statement was released one day after Oz, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, claimed during an anti-fraud press conference in Philadelphia that 90% of Maine’s Medicaid billing was fraudulent. His statement continued a pattern of largely unsupported claims by Trump administration officials of Medicaid fraud in states with Democratic leadership.
During a visit to Maine on Monday, Oz met with The Maine Wire, the conservative media arm of the Maine Policy Institute, and former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican nominee for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.
The Trump administration has previously withheld or deferred federal Medicaid funds for California and Minnesota because of alleged fraud.
Vice President JD Vance visited Bangor in May to tout the federal government’s crackdown on Medicaid fraud, singling out Mills for failing to take the issue seriously.
A fact-check by the Bangor Daily News found that Vance embellished details of a fraud case and overstated what federal auditors found in a review of Maine, while Mills in her response ignored critical findings from the state auditor and underplayed the state’s crucial role in rooting out fraud.
