Senator Rick Scott Presses New York AG Over Declining Medicaid Fraud Prosecutions

Senator Rick Scott, who leads the Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote to New York Attorney General Letitia James demanding answers about a dramatic reduction in Medicaid fraud prosecutions. The letter cites data showing only 53 convictions between 2023 and 2025, compared with 129 in the next-lowest similarly sized state, and consistently fewer than ten indictments in four of the past five years. Scott points to a plunge in 2020, when convictions fell from 56 to 14 and patient-abuse convictions dropped from 30 to four, questioning how a program serving millions can yield so few cases.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General has responded by decertifying New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and suspending future grant money. In his request, Scott asks for copies of the unit’s corrective-action plans covering staffing, referrals, case handling and cooperation, with a deadline of September 30, 2026, to regain certification.