California’s 27th Congressional District, encompassing the hardworking communities of the Santa Clarita Valley, Antelope Valley, and San Fernando valley (well, at least what Proposition 50 didn’t split up for partisan purposes) has been a place of growth, aerospace advancements and real opportunity.
Families choose these valleys and high deserts for affordable homes, strong schools, aerospace and logistics jobs, and a sense of security.
But, Washington and Sacramento continue to impose policies that strain those dreams through inefficiency, waste and misplaced priorities. Perhaps even worse, though, is the continual dismissal of fraud impacts on safety nets, and the glorification of increasing taxes in the name of compassion and partisan gameplay.
Federal and state authorities have uncovered massive fraud in Southern California’s hospice and home health sector, with schemes in Los Angeles County alone involving hundreds of millions of dollars in improper Medicare and Medi-Cal billing.
Sham operations allegedly enrolled non-terminal patients, billed for services never provided, and exploited vulnerabilities in the system. The California State Auditor report alerted officials to this exploitive growth over four years ago, and the results have been the continued pilfering of tax dollars meant to help those who need it most.
This isn’t abstract. It impacts real people.
Medicare and Medi-Cal serve our seniors and vulnerable neighbors who deserve genuine care. Every fraudulent claim diverts resources from legitimate patients, inflates costs for everyone, and erodes trust in programs meant to provide a safety net. Our district relies on these programs, with roughly one-third of our residents receiving federal program support, but true compassion and support must include rigorous oversight, data-driven eligibility checks, and swift prosecution – not endless expansion or partisan overshadowing of those bilking the system.
Enter Los Angeles County’s Measure ER on the June ballot, a half-percent sales tax increase estimated to generate about $1 billion annually for five years, aiming to backfill health care services amid federal adjustments to Medi-Cal funding.
Proponents highlight risks of hospital closures and service cuts. Yet this local tax hike (which would push the sales tax of our Antelope Valley residents to the highest in the state) risks becoming a patch that ignores the massive upstream waste and fraud in the very programs it seeks to prop up.
Instead of first aggressively auditing providers, deactivating fraudulent enrollments, and reforming enrollment to ensure aid reaches those who truly need it, the measure shifts the burden to local shoppers, families buying gas, clothes and household goods.
When billions vanish to fraud nationwide – with California a documented hotspot – taxpayers shouldn’t automatically face higher costs. A smarter path prioritizes integrity in federal and state spending. Root out waste first, then evaluate targeted, accountable support. This approach protects programs for the long term rather than perpetuating a cycle of leakage and levy.
Residents in the 27th understand fiscal reality. Many commute grueling hours on the 5 and 14 freeways for aerospace and warehouse jobs that power California’s economy. They value conservative government budgeting, and resent when hard work subsidizes inefficiency elsewhere, and deserve a government that reduces waste and doesn’t increase taxpayer burdens.
The Republican perspective here isn’t about cutting care – it’s about making that care sustainable and effective.
We’ve seen progress at the federal level with task forces targeting improper payments estimated in the tens of billions annually across Medicare and Medicaid. Strengthening provider screening, cross-checking death records, and focusing enforcement on bad actors delivers better outcomes.
Locally, supporting candidates who champion these reforms – like emphasizing accountability alongside access – aligns with the district’s practical values.
Our communities will thrive if government operates more like responsible households: balancing budgets, rooting out waste, and prioritizing core services. In the 27th, that means backing policies that remove waste to ease pressure on services, promote workforce training for local jobs, ease regulatory burdens on small businesses, and modernize infrastructure for safer commutes.
The voters of the 27th Congressional District, and Los Angeles County, have an important question to answer: Will we double down on business-as-usual spending that papers over fraud, or insist on reforms that restore confidence and stretch every dollar further?
Families here deserve leaders who treat public funds as a sacred trust, not an endless spigot.
By focusing on waste reduction in programs like hospice care, rejecting reflexive tax increases like Measure ER without prior accountability, and championing efficient governance, we can preserve the American promise that drew so many to these valleys.
Strong oversight isn’t partisan – it’s prudent. It ensures our seniors receive real hospice support, our workers keep more of their paychecks, and our district builds a future of opportunity rather than dependency.
At the end of the day, that’s what people want and deserve.
Jason Gibbs is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.
