As Xavier Becerra campaigns to become California’s next governor, troubling allegations about fraud prevention under his leadership are coming to light and raise serious questions about Becerra and the previous Biden Administration’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

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Americans have watched billions of dollars disappear into fraudulent government programs while legitimate patients, struggling families, and taxpayers bear the consequences. Now, revelations about decisions made during the Biden administration raise an even more disturbing question: What happens when the very officials entrusted with preventing fraud dismantle the safeguards designed to stop it?

At the center of those questions is Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s former Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), who is now running for governor of California.

According to congressional reporting and testimony from current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Biden administration dramatically reduced federal personnel responsible for protecting Medicare and Medicaid funds from fraud. At the same time, Kennedy alleges, federal payment practices increasingly favored distributing money first and attempting to recover fraudulent payments later.

The implications are staggering.

From 80 Fraud Prevention Personnel to Just Six

In April 2026, Kennedy testified before Congress about what he discovered when he assumed leadership of HHS. His description of the department’s fraud prevention capacity was astonishing.

Kennedy told lawmakers that the department previously had approximately 80 employees assigned to program integrity and fraud detection across all 50 states and six territories. By the time he arrived, he said, only six remained.

A September 29, 2026, report by the Washington Examiner, citing an 87-page report from Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, repeated the dramatic reduction in personnel between January 2021 and January 2025.

According to Kennedy’s testimony, Becerra had redirected the department’s priorities away from program integrity and toward increasing enrollment.

That raises an obvious question: Why would an administration responsible for distributing enormous sums of taxpayer money drastically reduce the personnel assigned to ensuring those payments were legitimate?

The reported reduction does not mean that every federal Medicare and Medicaid fraud investigator was eliminated. Other enforcement offices, including the independent HHS Office of Inspector General, continued operating. Nevertheless, reducing a central oversight function from approximately 80 people to six represents a serious change in federal fraud prevention capacity.

And it deserves a full accounting.

Pay First. Investigate Later.

Kennedy also described another troubling policy approach that he said expanded under the Biden administration: pay and chase.

Instead of stopping suspicious claims before taxpayer dollars leave government accounts, the approach allows payments to proceed, with investigators attempting to recover improper payments afterward.

Kennedy testified that the administration had implemented a system in which even claims identified as fraudulent were paid, with the government expected to pursue recovery later. He claimed that money was not successfully clawed back.

There is an important distinction between Kennedy’s description and an independently documented finding that Becerra personally ordered every high-risk claim to be paid. Medicare and Medicaid have long employed various postpayment recovery mechanisms. The precise changes attributable to Becerra require further examination.

But the underlying concern is legitimate. Fraud prevention becomes far more difficult when government money has already been transferred to individuals or businesses that may disappear, dissolve, or move funds beyond the government’s reach.

When billions of dollars are involved, recovering money after the fact is no substitute for preventing fraudulent payments in the first place.

California’s Phantom Hospices

Perhaps the most disturbing example Kennedy raised involved hospice providers in Los Angeles.

During his congressional testimony, Kennedy claimed his administration had shut down approximately 500 hospice operations that appeared to have no legitimate patients receiving end-of-life care. He described providers allegedly collecting patient information and billing Medicare thousands of dollars monthly for services that were not legitimately being provided.

Nick Shirley has brought new investigative fire to discovering fraud and highlighted the California hospice scheme.

The obvious question is how so many suspicious operations could enter the system and remain undetected.

California’s hospice fraud problems have drawn scrutiny beyond Kennedy’s testimony. They also became an issue in the state’s gubernatorial campaign, with Becerra’s opponents questioning his record at HHS.

These schemes are not merely accounting irregularities. Fraudulent billing drains resources from programs intended to care for elderly Americans, disabled individuals, vulnerable children, and families facing serious medical challenges.

The broader problem is undeniable. In June 2026, the Department of Justice announced charges against 455 defendants in a nationwide health care fraud crackdown involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged false claims.

Not all those schemes originated under Becerra, nor has the Justice Department established that his staffing decisions caused them. But their scale illustrates why effective oversight matters.

The Same Official Now Promises to Fight Fraud

Here is the extraordinary irony.

As Becerra campaigns to lead the nation’s most populous state, his own gubernatorial platform promises to crack down on health care fraud.

His campaign website proposes creating a dedicated health care fraud task force empowered to investigate suspicious activity, withhold funds, and prosecute wrongdoing. He specifically identifies hospice abuse as one of the problems California must confront.

These are reasonable proposals. But they invite an unavoidable question.

If strengthening fraud prevention is so important today, why did the federal government’s central program integrity staffing reportedly collapse during Becerra’s tenure at HHS?

And what specific actions did Becerra take to prevent fraudulent billing while he was responsible for overseeing the nation’s largest federal health programs?

The contrast between his current promises and the record described by Kennedy and congressional Republicans demands answers.

What Else Is Buried Deep Within Our Federal Agencies?

The revelations surrounding HHS raise an even larger and more troubling concern about what has been happening deep within the federal government. As investigators, congressional committees, inspectors general, and new agency leadership examine government operations, Americans are continuing to discover failures of oversight, questionable decisions, and, in some cases, deliberate misconduct. The question is no longer simply whether government programs are vulnerable to waste and fraud. We must also ask whether individuals entrusted with protecting our nation’s interests have, through purposeful decisions and actions, actually undermined those interests.

The scale of the problem is extraordinary. The Government Accountability Office estimates that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud, based on data from fiscal years 2018 through 2022. In fiscal year 2025 alone, federal agencies reported approximately $186 billion in improper payments. Not all improper payments are fraudulent, but the figures reveal the enormous financial consequences of inadequate oversight. A January 2026 GAO report also found that many agencies were failing to regularly evaluate or improve their antifraud programs. These are not isolated accounting mistakes. They reveal systemic weaknesses that have persisted across administrations and throughout the federal bureaucracy.

Even more concerning is the possibility that some of these weaknesses were not merely overlooked but were created or perpetuated through deliberate policy decisions. There is an important difference between a government employee making an honest mistake and a senior official knowingly removing safeguards, disregarding warnings, or creating conditions that make abuse more likely. When decisions that expose the nation to financial loss are made intentionally, Americans deserve to know who made them, why they were made, and whether those officials should be held accountable.

The Becerra allegations illustrate why these questions matter. If fraud prevention personnel were deliberately reassigned while billions of dollars continued flowing through vulnerable programs, the American people deserve a full explanation. Was the priority to distribute funds as rapidly as possible, regardless of the risks? Were warnings raised internally? Did political objectives take precedence over protecting the public’s money? These are questions that should be answered with documents, testimony, and independent investigation.

And the damage that can result from government misconduct extends far beyond financial losses. When officials misuse their authority, conceal problems, obstruct oversight, or advance agendas contrary to their legal responsibilities, the consequences can undermine public safety, national security, constitutional protections, and Americans’ confidence in their government. Every agency entrusted with public authority should be subject to meaningful scrutiny, regardless of which political party controls the White House.

Scripture reminds us that hidden wrongdoing does not remain hidden forever. Luke 12:2 declares, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known” (KJV). For believers, this is both an encouragement and a call to prayer. We should ask God to expose corruption wherever it exists, protect those courageous enough to bring wrongdoing to light, and raise up leaders who value truth and righteousness over political loyalty or personal advancement.

As more records are examined and more decisions come under scrutiny, we may discover that some of the greatest threats to our nation’s well-being have not come only from outside our borders, but from abuses of power within institutions Americans were taught to trust. That possibility demands serious investigation, not premature conclusions. The American people deserve to know whether their government has simply failed to protect them—or whether some entrusted with that responsibility knowingly acted against their interests.

A Matter of Stewardship and Accountability

For Christians, this story involves more than partisan politics. It strikes at a fundamental biblical principle: those entrusted with resources have a responsibility to manage them faithfully.

Luke 16:10 reminds us: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” (KJV).

Government officials are entrusted with resources that do not belong to them. Every dollar collected from hardworking Americans represents a responsibility to use those funds lawfully, wisely, and for their intended purposes.

When public officials weaken oversight, fail to investigate warning signs, or allow fraud to flourish, the consequences extend far beyond government balance sheets. The victims include taxpayers and the vulnerable people these programs were created to serve.

Intentional criminal wrongdoing by Becerra has not been established by the evidence reviewed here. But criminal intent is not the only standard by which public officials should be judged. Competence, sound judgment, transparency, and faithful stewardship matter as well.

Congress should demand the records explaining the staffing reductions, the decision-making behind payment policies, and the extent to which warnings about fraud were communicated to HHS leadership.

Becerra should be given the opportunity to answer those questions publicly.

And Americans should insist that the answers come before another enormous government budget is placed under his authority.

The question is not simply how much fraud occurred. It is whether those responsible for protecting taxpayer dollars took reasonable steps to stop it—and whether they should be entrusted with even greater responsibility.

How Should We Pray?

Pray that the truth about federal healthcare fraud and failures of oversight will be fully exposed.  Ask the Lord to give investigators courage and integrity, to bring justice where crimes have been committed, and to restore faithful stewardship of public resources. Pray for the exposure of hidden wrongdoing, protection for whistleblowers, and accountability for officials who knowingly abuse their authority. Pray that Americans will exercise wisdom and discernment as they evaluate those seeking positions of authority. Pray that fraud, deep state activity, and harmful authority structures of all kinds be dismantled across federal and state agencies. Pray for Nick Shirley, HHS Secretary Kennedy, and others who are using courage to pull back the cover on fraud and deceptive practices that have been embedded in our state and federal government. Pray for their protection and for more like them to speak the truth on what they know is happening.

Share your prayers for truth, justice, and transparency below.

(Kris Kubal is IFA’s Chief Program Officer. Photo Credit: USDA photo by Tom Witham)