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Congressman James Comer has launched a no-nonsense investigation into what appears to be a staggering pattern of hospice fraud in California, and hardworking Americans should be outraged. Comer and House Oversight Republicans have sent tough questions to Governor Gavin Newsom after reporting revealed widespread overbilling and sham enrollments that exploit both taxpayers and vulnerable patients.
The figures being discussed are jaw-dropping: Comer and others point to estimates that Los Angeles County alone may be tied to as much as $3.5 billion in suspect hospice billing, even as roughly 18 percent of all U.S. hospice claims are traced to that one county. That concentration of billing in a state that brags about progressive governance screams mismanagement and a regulatory vacuum, not competence.
Independent reporting — including investigations that found companies enrolling people without their knowledge and billing Medicare for services never rendered — has forced federal agencies to finally move. CMS and the Department of Justice have ramped up enforcement, with millions and even billions in dubious claims referred for investigation, proving this is not isolated bad apples but a systemic rot that demands fierce action.
What is unconscionable is that state authorities appear to have been handed these warning signs for years while the fraud ballooned under their watch. Comer’s letter to Newsom and the record of state audits make clear that this was not some sudden surprise — it was a problem tolerated and churned into a taxpayer liability by bureaucrats more interested in optics than accountability.
This scandal isn’t theoretical: past prosecutions have shown money laundering, sham companies, and prosecutors forcing guilty pleas — real criminal conduct that steals from seniors and drains our federal coffers. The stories of gold coins bought with fraud proceeds and sham provider networks should convince even the most skeptical that harsh criminal penalties, forfeiture, and swift federal prosecution are the right medicine.
Conservatives should rally behind Comer’s demand for transparency, immediate suspension of suspect providers, and aggressive federal action to decertify and prosecute those who turned hospice care into a money-making racket. This is about defending taxpayers, demanding law and order, and protecting dying Americans from predatory operators — if Washington and Sacramento won’t act, Congress must use every tool it has to shut this down.
