The Trump administration admitted it misreported how many New Yorkers used personal care services under Medicaid. In a video and letter last month, CMS head Dr. Mehmet Oz claimed roughly 5 million of the state’s 6.8 million enrollees received help with bathing, grooming and meal prep—about 74 percent of participants. In reality, CMS data show just 450,000 people—or 6 to 7 percent—used those services in 2023. CMS spokesman Chris Krepich said the agency had applied billing codes incorrectly and has since refined its methods while continuing its fraud probe into New York’s oversight of personal care spending. That probe forms part of a broader effort targeting at least five states, including California, Florida, Maine and Minnesota. Vice President J.D. Vance leads the interagency fraud task force, and the administration recently froze $243 million in Minnesota’s Medicaid payments over similar concerns. Critics say the campaign risks becoming partisan. Michael Kinnucan of the Fiscal Policy Institute called the New York mistake “slapdash” and warned that an adversarial tone makes it harder for states and the feds to collaborate on rooting out real abuse. Oz also claimed New York loosened eligibility by accepting “being easily distracted” as a qualifying condition and likened personal care aides to unpaid family helpers carrying groceries. State regulators say the opposite is true: new rules in September tightened screening standards, and “easily distracted” does not appear in them. Kathleen Downes, a quadriplegic New Yorker who hires both family and outside assistants, called Oz’s grocery example insulting and pointed out that many families can’t provide full-time care for free.