Comer Says California Fraud Could Be 10 Times Worse Than Minnesota
Los Angeles County allegedly accounted for $3.5 billion in hospice billing alone. #California
California has spent years lecturing the rest of the country about compassion, competence, and enlightened governance. Then a House Oversight chairman goes on national television and says Los Angeles County alone billed $3.5 billion in hospice spending last year, accounting for 18 percent of all hospice billing in the entire United States. In one county. In one state. Under Gavin Newsom. But sure, let's hear another sermon about "good government."
According to Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, what investigators found in Minnesota may be just the appetizer. California, he said, could be ten times worse.
What Comer Actually Said
During an appearance on Fox News' *Hannity*, Comer pointed to independent journalist Nick Shirley's reporting in Minnesota and said California appears to be operating on a much larger scale. His focus was not some obscure bookkeeping mistake. It was hospice billing, one of the most sensitive corners of the public safety net.
"You could multiply what we found in Minnesota probably by 10 in California. That's how bad it is."
He then gave the number that ought to make every taxpayer stop and stare.
"Hospice alone, $3.5 billion just in Los Angeles County."
Comer added that Los Angeles County represented 18 percent of all hospice billing in America last year. Not 18 percent of California. Not 18 percent of the West Coast. Eighteen percent of the national total.
The Number That Roasts the System All by Itself
You do not need an advanced degree to see the problem.
Los Angeles County is a large county, yes
Los Angeles County is not 18 percent of the U.S. population
Hospice care is supposed to serve people in their final days, not become a golden pipeline for billing games
If one county is soaking up that much of the total, somebody should have been asking questions a long time ago
And that is the part that keeps surfacing in story after story. The warning signs were not subtle. They were flashing neon.
Why This Hits Harder Than the Usual Waste Story
Government waste is common enough that a lot of Americans have become numb to it. A bloated contract here. A useless program there. But hospice fraud is different because it hides inside one of the most emotionally protected parts of health care.
Who wants to sound cynical about hospice? Nobody. That is why bad actors love protected categories. The moral shield is built in. Raise concerns and you risk sounding heartless. Stay quiet and the money keeps moving.
Comer made that point in plain English. There is broad public support for hospice because families understand what it means to care for people at the end of life. That support is deserved. What is not deserved is using that compassion as cover for industrial-scale abuse.
Newsom's California Keeps Having This Problem
Comer did not hedge on where he thinks responsibility lands. He said Gov. Gavin Newsom knew about the fraud and "hasn't done a thing about it."
That charge matters because California Democrats love presenting themselves as the adults in the room. They regulate everything. They tax everything. They lecture every red state within range. Yet when fraud explodes under their own noses, suddenly accountability gets very hard to find.
This is exactly why grassroots conservatives keep hammering the same point. Bigger government does not automatically mean better government. More spending does not guarantee compassion. And a state government that cannot spot obvious billing irregularities is in no position to mock anybody else's management.
Why whistleblowers matter now
Comer said the investigation is looking for the same thing it got in Minnesota: insiders willing to come forward, sit for transcribed interviews, and identify who approved what. That is how these schemes usually crack open. Not because the system polices itself, but because somebody inside gets tired of pretending the numbers make sense.
If that happens in California, this story could get much uglier very quickly.
The Bigger Conservative Lesson
This is not just a California story. It is a warning about what happens when enormous public spending systems grow faster than oversight, and when political leaders are more interested in image management than basic accountability.
Conservatives have been told for years that skepticism about sprawling bureaucracies is somehow mean-spirited. Really? A county producing 18 percent of all hospice billing in America is not an argument against skepticism. It is an argument for more of it.
Because here is the thing nobody should ignore: every fraudulent dollar is money diverted from legitimate care, stolen from taxpayers, and used to justify even more spending later. The scam becomes the excuse for a larger budget. Of course it does.
What Comes Next
The Oversight Committee's next move will matter. So will whether California officials cooperate, stonewall, or suddenly discover the miracle of concern now that the cameras are on.
For now, the facts already look bad enough:
Comer says California fraud may dwarf the Minnesota scandal
Los Angeles County allegedly accounted for $3.5 billion in hospice billing
That figure represented 18 percent of the national hospice total, according to Comer
The committee is seeking whistleblowers who can trace responsibility
If those numbers hold up under further investigation, this is not a paperwork story. It is a corruption story. A governance story. A moral story.
And if California's ruling class really did watch this happen and shrug, then the problem is not just fraud. The problem is a political culture that treats taxpayer money like free money until somebody forces a public reckoning.
That is the cost of government without accountability.
Further Reading
Breitbart: 'You Could Multiply What We Found in Minnesota Probably by 10 in California'
Fox News *Hannity* coverage and House Oversight follow-up statements as the investigation develops
#California #GovernmentWaste #Oversight