Empty adult daycares billed Medicaid millions – then checks flowed to Kathy Hochul
The latest reporting out of Queens has uncovered a remarkably lucrative business model: operate a social adult daycare, collect millions through New York’s Medicaid system — and make sure Albany’s political class knows your name.
Gov. Kathy Hochul received approximately $55,000 during her 2022 campaign from nine social adult daycare centers connected to Flushing’s booming senior-care industry, according to campaign records reviewed by the New York Post.
Those same nine businesses billed Medicaid roughly $49 million during that election year.
Two of the largest centers were reportedly empty when journalists visited them July 29. That observation alone does not prove fraud, and neither the facilities nor their operators have been charged with wrongdoing. But when supposedly busy providers are billing taxpayers by the millions, vacant activity rooms are not exactly reassuring.
Bao Kang Adult Day Care operator Baoli Zhang personally contributed $10,000 to Hochul’s campaign, while the business supplied another $5,000. Companies associated with Zhang claimed at least $32 million in Medicaid-related payments between 2018 and 2024, the Post reported.
Jiemin Shang’s Livingwell Day Care contributed $5,000 in 2022 — the same year it reportedly billed Medicaid $5.8 million. Another business Shang operates, Finest Adult Day Care, contributed an additional $5,000.
Livingwell’s annual Medicaid billing reportedly rocketed from approximately $114,000 in 2018 to more than $8 million in 2024. Bao Kang’s payments climbed from about $1.5 million to $7.2 million over the same period.
The Post reported that Livingwell billed approximately $27 million between 2018 and 2024 for services associated with more than 26,000 unique patients. Yet when reporters entered the facility last month, they found no patients and were quickly asked to leave.
Bao Kang was similarly quiet during the newspaper’s visit.
Perhaps both reporters arrived during the world’s most perfectly synchronized senior lunch break. Or perhaps state investigators should stop admiring spreadsheets from Albany and start knocking on doors in Queens.
The problem reaches well beyond two businesses. Seventy-seven social adult daycare centers reportedly operate within a one-mile section of Flushing, collectively billing more than $100 million annually.
New York’s Department of Health has referred 387 social adult daycare centers for investigation since 2021, according to figures previously provided to CBS News. Roughly one-third were subsequently referred to the state attorney general for possible legal action.
New York’s Medicaid inspector general also lists home and community-based services as a continuing enforcement priority in its 2026 work plan, specifically emphasizing whether services were actually delivered and properly documented.
https://thedailybs.com/2026/08/13/empty-adult-daycares-billed-medicaid-millions-then-checks-flowed-to-kathy-hochul/