Tipsheet

Massive At-Home Care Kickback Scheme Exposed in California, as Fraud Supposedly Funds Newsom's Power Base

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  April 09, 2026 2:30 PM

Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal, revealed on Thursday yet another example of California's out-of-control fraud problem.

The latest example involves a state program that pays individuals to stay home and care for family members with health issues. Because the program operates on the honor system, it is highly susceptible to abuse, with some estimates placing fraudulent activity between 20 and 40 percent, despite state officials dismissing the scrutiny as politically motivated. 

But that’s not all. While Newsom funds the program with $30 billion in taxpayer dollars, at-home caregivers contribute $150 million to unions, which in turn funnel support back to Newsom in what critics call a massive payback scheme.

"So the scam is California's in-home supported services or In-Home Care Program," Rufo said. "It spends about 30 billion dollars a year. It's one of the state's largest programs, and it pays 800,000 Californians to stay home, mostly with relatives, to take care of them, to cook, clean, watch television."

"On the surface, it's compassionate, you’re taking care of your grandfather or a child with disabilities. But experts say, and this is dating back to the Schwarzenegger administration and getting worse and worse and worse, that between 20 and 40 percent of this program is just pure fraud," he continued. "Fraudulent timesheets, fraudulent billing, it operates on the honor system. Experts say it's losing between six and twelve billion dollars a year to people who are taking this compassionate program and ripping it off."

"These in-home care providers give about a hundred and fifty million dollars a year to the labor unions, which are of course Gavin Newsom's number one kind of political power base. And so it is a cycle of corruption," Rufo said. "Newsom gives 30 billion dollars in taxpayer money to these in-home caregivers, including huge numbers of fraud. These caregivers give money to the unions, the unions give the money back to Gavin Newsom. This is the dirty business of California and we've blown it wide open."

Fox News then played a clip of California Governor Gavin Newsom responding to hospice fraud.

“In 2021, we did a moratorium on new hospice program 280 we shuttered. We've been after this for years and years and years," Newsom said. "We want an open hand, not a closed fist. We absolutely are here to be a partner to go after waste, fraud, and abuse. No one's denying these issues, but let's also not deny. This is purely political."

Rufo begged to differ.

"Well, of course, that's not true. Gavin Newsom, despite all of these concerns from Democrats and some Republicans, actually has expanded the program at every turn and dismantled enforcement mechanisms," he said. "And the question is, why is he doing this? So one reason is because this is now California's largest single occupation. This in-home care program, subsidized by taxpayers, represents about half of all new jobs created under Newsom. He wants to keep that number up. But also, because these in-home care providers give about a hundred and fifty million dollars a year to the labor unions, which are, of course, Gavin Newsom's number one kind of political power base."

This comes as groups from federal investigators, independent journalists, and even the state’s leading gubernatorial candidate have uncovered billions in fraud just this year. Yet state officials have still failed to confirm, deny, or provide any explanation for any of these findings.