With dramatic steps to reshape federal agencies underway, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now at the center of a contentious overhaul. U.S. Secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just announced sweeping cuts to HHS, including slashing a quarter of its ~91,000 person workforce and consolidating its 28 divisions into just 15, with a projected savings of $1.8 billion annually.
But these wholesale cuts are risky: Will they save money? Or will they disrupt essential services and introduce new inefficiencies, costing more in the long run?
There’s a more effective and proven strategy for fiscal responsibility. If this administration is serious about eradicating fraud, waste, and abuse, it should focus on empowering whistleblowers to bring False Claims Act (FCA) cases.
The Real Money-Saver: Fighting Fraud Through FCA Whistleblowers
Originally known as “Lincoln’s Law,” the FCA dates back to the Civil War and allows individuals to report on companies defrauding the government by filing lawsuits known as “qui tam” actions. The law was significantly strengthened during President Reagan’s second term through amendments that increased penalties and enhanced whistleblower protections and rewards. Now, it’s an incredibly effective tool for combating government fraud.
And when it comes to government fraud, the numbers are staggering. According to a 2024 Government Accountability Office report, the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud. A recent Wall Street Journal analysis revealed approximately $50 billion in questionable charges submitted by insurers to Medicare over just a three-year period.
By contrast, whistleblower-initiated FCA lawsuits recovered $2.4 billion in 2024 alone. Since 1986, these lawsuits have recouped $55.3 billion that would have otherwise been lost to fraud—with nearly $42 billion coming from healthcare fraud cases specifically.
A Better Approach to Reform
Despite their crucial role in combating fraud, whistleblowers often face significant hardships, including severe reputational damage, workplace retaliation, job loss, prolonged stress and isolation, and financial instability during lengthy legal proceedings. These barriers make the decision to come forward extraordinarily difficult. When agencies such as HHS lack sufficient resources or expertise to properly investigate allegations—a situation that will likely worsen with massive staffing cuts—whistleblowers may have to fight powerful corporate interests on their own. While some whistleblowers have the assets and support to litigate these cases on their own, many others do not, leaving billions in misappropriated taxpayer dollars on the table.
Rather than taking an axe to HHS's organizational structure, the administration should strengthen anti-fraud measures and whistleblower protections. Effective fraud prevention and recovery require adequate staffing and oversight—precisely what massive personnel cuts undermine. If the goal is truly to save taxpayer money while improving government efficiency, supporting whistleblowers represents a far more effective strategy than organizational demolition. Let's hope HHS leadership recognizes this before valuable services and fraud-fighting capabilities are irreparably damaged.
