The Biden years were a golden age for Medicare fraudsters – $100 billion a year stolen while Washington looked the other way.
Now Oz is sitting across from seniors and the conversation just changed.
His warning comes down to one thing seniors do every day – and scammers are counting on them never stopping.
Medicare Scam Phone Calls Are Targeting Seniors and Stealing Their Identity
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, sat down with Fox News at the Great American State Fair in Washington and put a number on the problem.
"I'm talking about people tricking seniors to give up their Medicare beneficiary numbers, which is like a credit card basically," Oz said. "These scammers can take those numbers and use them for all kinds of illegitimate purposes."
That card sitting in a senior's wallet – the one that looks like just another piece of government paperwork – is an open door.
Once it's gone, Oz said, neither he nor the victim will know what's happening until the damage is done.
"People are stealing from you by pretending to send you drugs you don't want, wheelchairs you don't need, [and] services you never asked for or don't benefit from," he said.
The scam has been running the same play for years.
DOJ prosecutors busted a Houston-based ring that set up call centers – first in Houston, then in Egypt – specifically to phone seniors, fabricate claims for topical creams and auto-refill products, and bill Medicare for items that never arrived.
Scammers in a separate Florida case built what prosecutors called a "billion-dollar fraud machine" – foreign call centers, fake doctors' orders, and medically unnecessary equipment shipped to seniors who never asked for any of it.
COVID made it worse.
Oz put the blame squarely on what happened during the pandemic years.
"COVID taught a lot of bad people that you can steal from the federal government, and you can get away with it," Oz said.
The 2026 Medicare Fraud Crackdown Is the Largest in American History
The carnage is measurable.
CMS reported $41.9 billion in Medicare program integrity savings in 2025 – up 59% from $26.3 billion in 2024.
In June, the Justice Department announced the largest healthcare fraud takedown in American history: 455 defendants charged in connection with $6.5 billion in alleged schemes.
One nurse practitioner in Texas billed Medicare more than $1 million per patient for wound treatments patients didn't need, then used the money to build a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines.
A Pakistani billing executive allegedly ran a $650 million Medicaid scheme through 41 Arizona substance abuse clinics, skimming $24.5 million for himself – including a $2.9 million golf estate in Dubai.
Russian fraudsters used stolen identities from more than one million Americans to set up sham supply companies, submitted $4.45 billion in fraudulent claims, and vanished.
"If the money leaves the building, we don't get it back," Oz said. "You get these convictions, but whatever money left the door before you got the conviction, it's off in the Cayman Islands or back in Russia."
The Medicare Trust Fund Is Running Out and Fraud Is the Reason
The Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund faces insolvency by 2033 – seven years away – when an automatic 11% cut in payments kicks in by law.
"If we take the fraud out, we could double the life expectancy," he said, "which means you, your kids, your kids' kids – they could all benefit from this beautiful safety net program."
A doctor who runs Medicare just told seniors that the program they paid into for 40 years is being looted – and that the looting is the reason they're worried it won't be there.
Oz closed with three rules: never give a Medicare beneficiary number to anyone who calls, never answer medical questions from an unknown caller, never hand over personal information over the phone.
These rules only work if seniors know them – and scammers are counting them letting their guard slip.
Sources:
- Angelica Stabile, "Dr Oz warns Medicare scammers are stealing billions — and your personal information could be next," Fox News, July 7, 2026.
- "National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in 455 Defendants Charged," U.S. Department of Justice, June 2026.
- "Minnesota Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 15 Defendants for Over $90M in Fraud," U.S. Department of Justice, May 22, 2026.
- "Fighting Fraud with Dr. Oz," Paragon Institute, May 1, 2026.
- "Analysis of the 2026 Medicare Trustees' Report," Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, June 9, 2026.