Land of milk and honey? Extra like fraud and humorous cash.
Federal officers estimate Los Angeles County alone accounts for $3.5 billion in fraudulent hospice claims as extra victims come ahead with tales of abuse.
Fraudsters have allegedly created faux hospices, stolen identities and enrolled folks in end-of-life care to invoice Medicare.
The rip-off can have critical penalties for victims. As a result of hospice is meant for terminally sick sufferers, Medicare usually received’t pay for medical remedy outdoors hospice as soon as somebody is enrolled.
At 71 and not too long ago retired, Linda Henry thought she was in good well being.
Then in 2024, she found Medicare data stated she had coronary heart failure — and that she had been enrolled in hospice, regardless of by no means signing up.
That meant Henry’s common medical care was instantly in jeopardy.
She found the issue after her physician tried to invoice Medicare for an allergy check in September 2024 and the declare was denied. Different medical claims quickly bounced again too.
Henry spent months calling Medicare and emailing officers whereas her physician supplied a letter saying she was wholesome.
She was allegedly enrolled with Fortuna Hospice Inc., which didn’t reply her calls. When Henry drove to the handle listed for the corporate, she discovered what seemed to be an empty workplace.
“I delayed bodily appointments and my colonoscopy and all these things as a result of I knew that we had been going to struggle about this and it wasn’t going to receives a commission,” she advised the AP.
Eight months later, Medicare lastly acknowledged Henry as a fraud sufferer. It took one other 4 months earlier than she started seeing medical doctors once more.
California has been a serious goal of the federal crackdown as The California Publish has reported. The state had about 2,100 hospice organizations in 2026, down from 2,800 4 years earlier, based on the AP. A 2022 state audit discovered dozens of hospice businesses clustered in the identical buildings, together with different pink flags.
“It is a California downside,” First Assistant US Lawyer Invoice Essayli stated at an April press convention. “I name California the dominion of fraud, and Gavin Newsom reigns over this kingdom right here.”
California has revoked almost 500 hospice licenses since imposing a moratorium on new hospices in 2021, whereas new emergency laws adopted in June tightened necessities for brand spanking new licenses. Greater than 1,000 California hospices had been faraway from Medicare since early 2025.
However advocates warn the fraud can do greater than drain taxpayer {dollars} — it will possibly stop susceptible seniors from getting the care they really want.
“She died two months later in a talented nursing facility. That didn’t must occur,” California Hospice and Palliative Care Affiliation CEO Sheila Clark testified about one girl who was falsely enrolled in hospice and couldn’t get cataract surgical procedure permitted.
“These scammers listed below are going to do no matter they must do to try to survive, and we have to work on the state degree and the federal degree to guarantee that we’re going to clear home.”
