WASHINGTON — In a sweeping move by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), over 400 hospices in Los Angeles have been either closed or had their funding suspended. This action, part of CMS’ intensified efforts against fraud, was highlighted by Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz during an appearance on “Pod Force One.”
Dr. Oz expressed astonishment at the lack of backlash, stating that CMS received “zero” complaints despite halting “hundreds of millions” of dollars in funding to these hospice programs. He criticized certain state policies, particularly in blue states, for their inadequate safeguards against fraud.
“In the past 10 weeks, we have ceased operations and payments for over 400 hospices in Los Angeles, California,” Dr. Oz disclosed to The Post’s Miranda Devine. “But here’s what’s truly surprising. How many of them have reached out to us with complaints?
“Zero.”
The former TV personality, now leading CMS, estimates that social services are plagued by approximately $100 billion in annual fraud. He argues that the federal government has been overly trusting of some service providers, leading to significant financial losses.
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For context, CMS, which administers programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, had some $1.691 trillion in outlays last year.
Oz warned that a culture of fraud has threatened the fiscal sustainability of programs like Medicare, whose trust fund for hospital care is estimated to run out of cash by 2033, according to the Social Security Administration.
“We would double the life expectancy of the Medicare trust fund if we could just get that money out of the fraudsters and put it into the system,” he added. “So, it’s massively important for the well-being of the health care system.”
To combat that, CMS has launched a “Fraud War Room” with a goal of ensuring that money doesn’t leave the agency without adequate checks in place.
“It’s not fraud of hernia operations or brain treatments,” Oz explained about the issue. “This is fraud generally of services that your family would have provided for you in the past.”
“We’ll drive you to the doctor’s office, we’ll take you home from an operation, take care of you. We’ll hire a member of your family or someone living with you to carry the groceries upstairs, so it’s a jobs program,” he went on.
Oz credited YouTuber Nick Shirley for shedding a light on fraud issues plaguing states across the country and said that CMS has audited spending in Minnesota over the past three months and “can’t understand some of these bills.”
“I’m stunned by Minnesota, but I’m even more flabbergasted in California, where the Auditor General of the State four years ago told Governor Newsom that they had a massive problem with hospice fraud,” he said.
One particular grievance Oz had with the Golden State is how it is allegedly using federal funds to buy “their illegal immigrants health care benefits, including, by the way, vision and dental.”
That’s a reference to California’s Medi-Cal program, which was expanded to include dental and vision benefits several years ago. The program provides benefits to the poor in California regardless of immigration status. Notably, last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) slashed benefits for illegal immigrants.
“If you’re not giving it to Medicare beneficiaries, older Americans in the rest of the country do not get vision and dental, they have to pay for it themselves,” he said. “We’re actually giving the illegal immigrants a better deal than our Medicare recipients.”
