NY AG Candidate Cites Data Showing Medicaid Fraud Recoveries Fell 82% Under James
A measurable decline in Medicaid fraud enforcement dollars — if verified by state records — could become a defining accountability metric in the 2026 New York attorney general race.
Saritha Komatireddy, a candidate for New York attorney general, stated publicly that Medicaid fraud recoveries under incumbent AG Letitia James declined from approximately $168 million to $31 million, a reduction of roughly $137 million or 82 percent, according to reporting by Fox News published on or before June 27, 2026. Komatireddy, citing the figures during a campaign appearance, said James is "not doing the job" and pledged to hire 20 additional prosecutors dedicated to Medicaid fraud enforcement if elected. The source of the underlying recovery figures was not identified in the Fox News report; the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and the AG's own annual reports would be the primary public records capable of confirming or rebutting the claim.
New York's Medicaid program is one of the largest in the United States, with annual expenditures exceeding $90 billion according to the New York State Division of the Budget's Fiscal Year 2025 Enacted Budget Financial Plan. Federal law requires states to maintain a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General publishes annual performance data on each state unit's recoveries, referrals, and convictions. New York's MFCU figures are publicly reported through that federal oversight mechanism.
Komatireddy's campaign has not yet filed a lobbying disclosure or FEC-equivalent state filing detailing the specific data methodology behind the $168 million and $31 million figures as of the publication of this article. The Office of AG Letitia James had not issued a public response to the specific recovery figures cited by Komatireddy as of the date of this report, according to available public statements reviewed by this publication.
The 2026 New York attorney general race is a state-level contest, but it carries federal relevance because New York's AG office has historically been a significant actor in multistate litigation against federal agencies, filed numerous suits against federal executive actions during both the Trump and Biden administrations, and oversees enforcement of federal Medicaid dollars disbursed to the state. Campaign finance filings for all declared candidates in the race are publicly available through the New York State Board of Elections database.
What remains unknown: whether the $168 million and $31 million figures are drawn from a single comparable fiscal year, an aggregate period, or a different metric such as civil versus criminal recoveries. The document that would answer this question is the New York MFCU's annual report to the HHS Office of Inspector General, which disaggregates recoveries by type and year, and the AG's own published annual reports, both of which are available through their respective agency websites.