John Fetterman

In a recent CBS News interview, Sen. John Fetterman, D‑Pa., praised his former 2022 Senate opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, now Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator, for what he called appropriate efforts to “root out” widespread fraud in Medicaid and said he supports deporting criminal immigrants. Fetterman said Oz is “zeroing in on” fraud and that he is “very supportive of Medicaid” while insisting abuse be eliminated, an unusual public endorsement of a Trump administration official from a prominent Democrat. The comments come after Oz sent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul a letter earlier this month posing 50 detailed questions about the state’s Medicaid program and giving her administration 30 days to respond, saying there is evidence of extensive fraud. A Hochul spokesperson told Fox News the governor had already led reforms that shut down hundreds of Medicaid middlemen and saved more than $2 billion, pledged to work with CMS to identify bad actors, but also cast the federal probe as politically motivated and part of a broader Republican push to weaken safety‑net programs. The episode highlights a rare moment of bipartisan agreement on targeting Medicaid fraud even as both parties accuse each other of using enforcement as a weapon to advance larger ideological fights over the size and scope of public health coverage.