Tuesday 11/November/2025 – 04:57 AM
Health experts denied what was announced by the head of the Medicaid program in the United States, Mehmet Oz, about spending more than a billion dollars of taxpayer money on health care for irregular immigrants, stressing that the data on which he relied related to routine administrative errors and were not related to immigration, according to what was reported by the British newspaper The Guardian.
Oz, who serves as director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said a financial audit found irregularities in the program’s funding, but experts in the field described that as a misinterpretation of standard administrative review processes.
America, tax money and immigrants
Liu Cuiyu, a research professor at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, explained that based on what was reported, the audit appears to be related to errors in the financial claims states submit for federal matching funding, which is a common issue and subject to ongoing oversight by CMS.
Such errors occur when some states request federal reimbursements for programs that are supposed to be funded only locally, such as the Meals on Wheels program, Cuiyo noted, adding that such reviews are normal and frequent in the financial system between states and the federal government.
Reports from the Oregon Live and KFF websites confirmed that the audits Oz relied on were routine and unrelated to immigration issues, while experts warned that such statements could raise concerns among migrant families and discourage them from seeking necessary medical care.
