Fake People And Phony SSNs Had 100% Success In Getting Obamacare Subsidy, Fraud Investigation Finds

A scathing new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report identified rampant fraud and systemic failures in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace just as Congress is battling over the future of Obamacare’s enhanced premium subsidies.

The report, released Wednesday, revealed that fictitious identities, invalid Social Security numbers, and even deceased individuals were easily approved for taxpayer-funded subsidies. Every single application investigators submitted using fabricated or invalid Social Security numbers in 2024 was approved for coverage.

“Republicans have sounded the alarm on the flawed structural integrity of Obamacare and how Democrats’ failed policies to temporarily prop up the program have exacerbated fraud, hurt patients, increased the burden on American taxpayers,” Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the members who requested the GAO investigation, said in a statement.

“The concerning findings from GAO’s report further confirm that Republican efforts to strengthen, secure, and sustain our federal health programs are critical and necessary to ensure access to quality health care at prices Americans can afford,” Guthrie added.

The month-long government shutdown that ended just before Thanksgiving stemmed largely from Democrats’ refusal to budge on the expiring Obamacare premium subsidies, which they passed without a single Republican vote in 2021 and set to expire at the end of 2025.

Those subsidies were originally limited to households earning between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level. However, Democrats removed the upper-income cap and increased the subsidy amounts, and in some cases reduced premiums to zero.

Fraud is especially widespread among enrollees reporting incomes between 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level, who qualify for zero-premium plans. Critics