Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – January 31, 2026
I read this headline in “Just the News,”
“More fraud? State senator say Arizona gives $6B yearly in improper Medicaid payments”
I shook my head and then wondered, how much does California spend in Medi-Cal payments to illegals? It must be a whole lot more than Arizona. Remember that in California, Medicaid is called Medi-Cal.
On January 19th, Tom Wong wrote in the townhallnews.com, “Trump Administration Demands California Repay $1 Billion in Medicaid Funds Spent on Illegal Immigrant Healthcare.“
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), did an audit between 2024 and 2025. If the Federal Government is spending money on illegals health care, then where does that leave American citizens?
Now listen to this. States can chose to cover undocumented immigrants, but NO federal monies are supposed to be spent.
We know where Newsom stands. Spend, spend, spend.
I hope you’ve heard of Steve Hilton. He’s the Republican candidate running for Governor of our once fine state. He’s indicated that all arrows point to money laundering by combining Federal dollars with State dollars to pay for health care via Medi-Cal.
Do you find this as disgusting as I do? If we checked each illegal getting Medi-Cal, how many would be on the list of murderers, rapists, child abusers and more? I don’t know but I do know that American citizens and taxpayers deserve a whole lot better than what they are getting. And, that $1 billion could be better spent on other programs that are just as important – like highway and road repair.
There’s a site called “MorningMedicaidMugshot” where you can go and find out the latest listings of fraud taking place around the country. Ironic that our own county doesn’t allow pictures of mugshots anymore, but thank goodness that this site exists.
As far as $6 Billion spent in Arizona, I think that was a mistake. Other articles cite $2.5 billion. Still a significant sum over California which doesn’t make a lick of sense.
What I do know is this. President Trump is tackling more and more fraud, waste and abuse costing us taxpayers beaucoup dollars and then demanding repayment. I love it. My appreciation for Trump just rises higher and higher.
