A major crackdown is hitting the healthcare system in Los Angeles, and the numbers are raising eyebrows.
During recent House testimony, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed that federal authorities have shut down 500 hospices in the region. His claim was blunt and controversial.
“We haven’t had one call complaining,” he said, suggesting the closures targeted operations that were “clearly fraudulent.”
The shutdowns are part of a wider anti-fraud push led by JD Vance, focusing on abuse within the Medicare system. Early figures tied to the effort show over 447 suspensions and more than $600 million in suspected fraud, with broader estimates reaching as high as $5 billion.
That scale points to something bigger than isolated bad actors.
Los Angeles has long been flagged as a hotspot for hospice fraud. Investigators have uncovered schemes involving fake facilities, recruited “patients” who were not terminally ill, and aggressive billing for services never needed. In some cases, vulnerable individuals were enrolled without fully understanding what hospice care meant.
The alleged lack of public complaints is now becoming a key talking point.
Supporters of the crackdown argue it proves these operations were not serving real patients. Critics, however, caution that absence of complaints does not automatically equal absence of harm, especially in communities where patients may not realize they were part of a fraud scheme.
The stakes are high.
Hospice care is designed for end-of-life support, making it one of the most sensitive areas of the healthcare system. When fraud enters that space, it does not just waste taxpayer money. It risks undermining trust in care meant for people at their most vulnerable.
Federal authorities are expected to continue investigations, with more audits and enforcement actions likely in the coming months.
For now, the message from Washington is clear. This is not a small cleanup. It is a full-scale purge of a system officials believe was being heavily exploited.