House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told Newsmax that his committee is targeting massive hospice fraud in California.
Comer told "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE" on Monday that "Hospice is a program everyone supports." But maybe that is why criminals thought they could get away with billions of dollars in fraudulent claims.
Comer said, "Everyone uses hospice in their deepest, darkest time of need. And to find out that billions of dollars of fraud has occurred in hospice in California is sickening to any taxpayer."
The Oversight Committee chair said what his committee uncovered in Los Angeles County alone is head-turning. "We're zeroing in on Los Angeles County, where 18% of the total amount of money spent on hospice in America went to this one county."
He said investigators discovered it is relatively easy to set up hospice fraud. "Under further review, there were no guardrails. You and I could form an LLC [limited liability company] today and buy a post office box and get licensed within 24 hours in the state of California and start billing hospice for fake patients."
Comer accused California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom of being aware of the issues while doing nothing. "He's come in and said, 'OK, we're going to put guardrails in.' Well, he's known about it for four years and hasn't done anything about it."
Recent Department of Justice criminal cases against perpetrators of government fraud in Minnesota, Comer said, give him reason to be optimistic something will happen to fix the issue in California.
"We're working with the Department of Justice, working with Vice President JD Vance, who's just been placed in charge of a national fraud task force. And I really think that in these fraud cases in these states, we're going to see some accountability."
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Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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