Hospice Gold Rush ROCKS Medicare

When “42 hospices in four blocks” becomes a plausible headline, it’s a warning flare about how badly Medicare can be gamed—and how long California’s political class let it fester.

Story Snapshot

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and federal prosecutors launched a January 2026 crackdown targeting alleged hospice and home health fraud centered in Los Angeles County.
Federal officials cited a sevenfold rise in hospice billing that doesn’t match death rates and said Los Angeles County accounts for about 18% of national Medicare home health/hospice billing—roughly $3.5 billion.
The “42 hospices in a four-block radius” line is widely circulating, but the underlying sources emphasize extreme provider clustering and “license flipping” rather than confirming that exact count and location.
California officials dispute the scale and evidence behind parallel federal actions, including a separate funding freeze that triggered a state lawsuit.

Federal crackdown targets a hospice “gold rush” in Los Angeles

Federal officials used a Los Angeles press conference in early January 2026 to outline what they describe as a concentrated Medicare fraud problem tied to hospice and home health billing. Dr. Oz, now leading the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the probe is focused on operators who bill Medicare while enrolling patients who are not terminally ill. The stated objective is to stop fraudulent payments and protect patients and taxpayers.

Dr. Oz’s team pointed to billing patterns that appear disconnected from reality—specifically a steep rise in hospice billing that does not track with changes in death rates. Officials also highlighted Los Angeles County’s outsize share of national Medicare hospice and home health billing, describing it as about 18% of the national total, or $3.5 billion. Those figures, if sustained by audits, signal not just waste but a systemic vulnerability in federal healthcare programs.

What the “42 hospices” claim does—and doesn’t—prove

The eye-catching claim that a Los Angeles neighborhood contains “42 hospices” within a four-block radius is circulating as a shorthand for alleged oversaturation. However, the available reporting summarized in the research does not directly quote that exact figure as a verified address-by-address count. What is better supported is the broader allegation: clusters of hospices proliferated in certain markets, enabling bad actors to hide among legitimate providers and churn through new entities to keep billing.

This distinction matters for credibility. The federal case does not hinge on a viral number; it hinges on documentation, audits, billing data, and prosecutable conduct. Reporting describes tactics such as “license flipping,” where a hospice ownership or billing identity is changed to evade scrutiny, and the use of networks of physicians to certify hospice eligibility for large numbers of people. The research also notes claims of roughly 100 doctors used to enroll around 100,000 patients—an allegation that will require case-by-case substantiation as investigations proceed.

How alleged hospice fraud harms patients—not just taxpayers

Hospice is meant for end-of-life care, and improper enrollment can lock seniors into a care pathway they never needed. The research describes patients being recruited or enrolled despite non-terminal conditions, sometimes through deceptive outreach. When that happens, families can lose access to appropriate, curative, or routine care options while federal dollars are diverted to entities that may provide little or no legitimate service. For conservatives focused on accountability, this is the real scandal: vulnerable people treated as billing opportunities.

Oversight tools are expanding after years of warnings

CMS did not arrive at this moment overnight. The research describes a multi-year buildup: a 2020 media exposé about questionable hospices in Los Angeles, later state and federal attention, and then stronger CMS screening through the Provisional Period of Enhanced Oversight. That program subjects new or changing hospice providers in selected states to enhanced review for weeks or months. By mid-2025, CMS had reviewed hundreds of providers and revoked more than 100 billing privileges, according to the industry reporting cited in the research.

In January 2026, CMS and DOJ described expanding efforts beyond new providers, including prepayment reviews and targeted audits—steps that can stop questionable billing before money goes out the door. The research also cites a “Fraud Tax Project” aimed at linking healthcare fraud to tax and financial enforcement. For taxpayers still frustrated by years of inflation and Washington overspending, this kind of program-integrity enforcement is one of the few levers that can reduce waste without cutting benefits for honest seniors.

California vs. the feds: the political fight around fraud claims

The enforcement push is unfolding alongside a broader federal-state conflict. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration over a separate federal funding freeze tied to fraud concerns, arguing there was “not one shred of evidence.” Federal officials counter that lax oversight enabled fraud to grow. Based on the research, proven fraud exists—illustrated by a prior DOJ case involving $16 million in hospice fraud and money laundering—but the full scale of current losses remains under investigation, and even sympathetic reporting concedes hard numbers can be difficult to pin down early.

Here’s the bottom line for readers who are tired of woke priorities and administrative bloat: this story is less about a viral “42 hospices” talking point and more about whether government can enforce basic rules on a massive entitlement program. The federal government is now putting investigators, audits, and billing revocations behind the rhetoric. If the allegations hold, the crackdown will protect seniors from exploitation and defend taxpayers from a system that became too easy to manipulate.