Vice President JD Vance, who chairs the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, declared that “no amount of fraud is too big or too small” and stated that the task force plans to target bad actors regardless of the amount of money they have stolen from taxpayers.
During a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia on Tuesday, Vance highlighted the task force’s early victories.
'If you’re defrauding the taxpayer, you ought to go to prison, and anybody who’s helping you ought to go to prison too.'
President Donald Trump established the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud by executive order in mid-March. Since then, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has worked with the task force to close hundreds of allegedly fraudulent health care providers.
On Tuesday, Vance discussed the issue of widespread fraud in the Minneapolis area, stating that the task force had turned off a government assistance program for autistic children that was being widely exploited.
“We’ve completely stopped the funding to that program. And we basically told the state of Minnesota, ‘You don’t get any more of our money unless you’ve verified that you’re taking fraud seriously,’” he stated, and the crowd responded with applause.
The federal government announced in February that it was withholding $259.5 million in Medicaid funding from Minnesota.
RELATED: Vance's task force shutters 221 hospices in 'fraud king' Gavin Newsom's California
During Tuesday’s event, Vance commended CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz for his work on eliminating fraud.
“We had our weekly fraud check-in call two weeks ago, and Dr. Oz called in, but he’s like, ‘Hey, I got to go because I’m about to hop on the bus, and we’re going to go arrest a bunch of fraudsters in Los Angeles.’ And I was like, ‘That’s exactly what I want you to do. By all means, get off the phone.’ So we’re doing a lot of that stuff.”
Vance explained that under the Biden administration, the federal government overlooked fraudsters who stole smaller amounts of money from taxpayers. He stated that this approach has changed under the Trump administration.
“No amount of fraud is too big or too small. If you’re defrauding the taxpayer, you ought to go to prison, and anybody who’s helping you ought to go to prison too,” Vance remarked.
RELATED: How a California crook committed $178 million worth of health care fraud — in just one year
As of Wednesday, the task force has suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles, with an estimated fraud total exceeding $600 million.
“With @VP’s leadership, we’re crushing fraud faster than ever,” Oz stated.
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The Trump administration's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, led by Vice President JD Vance, reported that it has shut down hundreds of hospices and health care providers over a 10-week period.
Vance's task force, established by presidential executive order on March 16, has been working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to crack down on health care fraud.
'Remember, none of this fraud could happen unless California issued these licenses.'
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told Fox News Digital on Thursday that 221 hospice and health care providers in Los Angeles County had been suspended.
"We've shut down already, just in the last 10 weeks, 221 hospices in California," Oz told Fox News Digital, noting that all of the entities were located in Los Angeles.
"We're able to dramatically accelerate a process that had been meandering along in California," Oz stated.
Roughly a third of the nation's hospices, 1,800, are located in Los Angeles, according to Oz. He stated that the administration believes it will shut down half of those entities.
RELATED: Vance’s fraud task force drops hammer: 70 California hospice and home health providers suspended
"The administration's war on fraud once again yields results as more suspensions take place and fraudsters face justice for ripping off hard-working Americans and stealing their tax dollars and social services," a spokesperson for Vance told Blaze News. "The vice president and his task force are proud of these latest figures and expect to see this number continue to grow dramatically."
California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's office responded to the administration's latest efforts to suspend hospices accused of fraud.
"Glad the federal government is finally stepping up to do their part," his office wrote. "State has been taking action for years, including suspending 280+ licenses & banning new licenses since 2022."
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News Digital that California has "not taken fraud seriously for over a decade."
Essayli explained that he refers to Newsom as "the fraud king" because "he has reigned over billions and billions of dollars of fraud."
"It's gonna be into the hundreds of billions of dollars under his watch," Essayli said. "Remember, none of this fraud could happen unless California issued these licenses."
Newsom's press office fired back at Essayli after he claimed the governor has refused to implement emergency regulations that would help end hospice fraud.
"The Governor took action: he instituted a BAN on new hospice licenses back in 2022!!" the press office wrote. "Only the federal government has access to medicare billing, CRITICAL to fighting fraud — so why did it take you so long to act, First Assistant?"
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The Trump administration's new Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President JD Vance, is moving to suspend dozens of Los Angeles businesses.
On March 16, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the task force, announcing that it would advise the president and coordinate efforts to end fraud, waste, and abuse in government benefit programs.
'The American people deserve better than being ripped off by people who hate this country.'
The task force is working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to identify and suspend hospice and home health providers flagged as high risk.
CMS has suspended 70 providers, a source told Blaze News.
"As the task force to root out waste, fraud, and abuse ramps up its work, we expect this number to grow exponentially," the source stated.
This latest action from the CMS builds on a February announcement of action to protect taxpayers by cracking down on fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid systems. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz joined Vance to reveal that the administration had deferred $259.5 million in quarterly Medicaid funding in Minnesota due to fraud concerns. Additionally, the CMS implemented a six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for certain durable medical equipment suppliers.
The task force plans to utilize the CMS' existing template, which involves an AI-driven internal fraud detection system that either blocks claims or flags them for review, a source told Blaze News.
This system can be scaled across the government to root out waste, fraud, and abuse nationwide more effectively. The task force is actively hiring CMS technologists to deploy this system.
"Vice President Vance looks forward to carrying out the president's war on fraud," a spokesperson for Vance told Blaze News. "The American people deserve better than being ripped off by people who hate this country, and the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud will ensure that essential taxpayer-funded services are used to support the hardworking Americans who rely on them, instead of being used by fraudsters and criminals."
RELATED: At-large Azerbaijani national accused of massive $90 million health care scam in California
The White House's announcement about the establishment of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud followed a bombshell investigation in December by journalist Nick Shirley, who uncovered a massive social-services fraud scandal in Minnesota.
The Trump administration appeared to confirm these reports, stating in its task force fact sheet that Medicaid fraud in Minnesota "could total billions," adding that it was taking action to end the "epidemic."
"There is strong reason to believe similar vulnerabilities exist in California, Illinois, New York, Maine, and Colorado, where insufficient safeguards and weak oversight increase the risk of large-scale fraud," the White House wrote.
Earlier this month, Shirley revealed over $170 million in alleged day-care and hospice fraud in California.
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Given the persistence of eligibility fraud through 2025, CMS should make its reasoning behind last year’s broker reinstatements and this year’s subsequent terminations clear.
Washington policymakers can no longer ignore the mounting challenge of federal entitlements, especially Medicare.
Eliminating the 1.5 million fraudulent people who enrolled in 2025 means that coverage numbers may have actually increased.
Open the Books' investigation found Pennsylvania saw Medicaid payments soar from $5.6 million to $583 million over seven years.
Police are funded and staffed on the premise that they’re chasing small numbers of bad guys in a population of honest citizens. If that cultural premise fails, we don’t have the cops to fix it.
In California, a complex ambulance reimbursement model has been picking taxpayers’ pockets across the U.S. for years.
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