The head of America's Medicaid programme has come under fire after making what experts describe as false claims about $1 billion being spent on healthcare for undocumented immigrants, sparking concerns about the impact on vulnerable communities seeking medical treatment.
Questionable Claims and Political Rhetoric
Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), recently asserted on social media that audits revealed "more than $1bn of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants". However, healthcare experts have thoroughly debunked this statement, explaining that the referenced audits actually concerned routine administrative errors in state funding claims.
Leo Cuello, a research professor at Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, noted that while he hadn't seen the specific audit mentioned, the reporting indicated it related to common administrative mistakes in state claims for matching funds. "These types of audits are the most vanilla and normal thing that happens all the time," Cuello explained. "States are constantly sending CMS claims, and CMS is constantly reviewing whether or not they're paying something properly."
Fact Versus Fiction in Healthcare Funding
Oz's social media post attempted to connect these routine audits with broader political battles, specifically mentioning Democratic demands to repeal the President's Working Families Tax Cuts legislation and linking this to limiting healthcare for undocumented immigrants. Cuello described this approach as "mixing apples and oranges," emphasising that the audits and potential government shutdown are completely unrelated matters.
More significantly, experts highlighted that the measures Republicans are pushing through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Affordable Care Act tax credit repeals would primarily affect American citizens rather than undocumented immigrants. Cuello stressed that even if the $1 billion figure were accurate, it represents "about one-tenth of 1% of the trillion dollars that was cut out of the Medicaid programme, and those cuts target US citizens".
Real-World Consequences for Vulnerable Communities
Nina Yamanis, a professor at American University's School of International Service, questioned the fundamental premise of Oz's claim, stating she "can't imagine you could" access Medicaid while undocumented. The verification process involves checking homeland security databases and immigration documents for lawful residents without Social Security numbers.
Despite the inaccuracies in Oz's statements, experts warn that such rhetoric contributes to an environment where immigrant families - regardless of legal status - become fearful of seeking necessary medical care. Yamanis reported hearing accounts of lawfully present immigrants avoiding newly available Medicaid expansions in North Carolina due to fears of system punishment.
The health implications extend beyond immigrant communities, Yamanis emphasised. When people avoid healthcare, overall public health suffers. She pointed to rising HIV infections among Latinos over the past decade, while rates among other ethnic groups remained stable. "When we have Latinos who are not accessing testing or treatment, it's problematic because that means HIV is spreading among all of us," Yamanis stated.
Particularly vulnerable are LGBTQ+ immigrants, who may come from countries where they faced discrimination and violence. "The threat of deportation is much worse for that community," Yamanis added, highlighting how political rhetoric can have life-or-death consequences for marginalised groups.
