Medicare and Medicaid FRAUD Exposed: $1 Million Per Minute Crisis Rep. Jodey Arrington warns that Medicare and Medicaid fraud is costing taxpayers $1 million every minute. Discussing a joint op-ed with Rep. Blake Moore, Arrington highlights Government Accountability Office figures showing up to $500 billion in annual losses across the government. NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: House Republican lawmakers are introducing a series of new bills after a bombshell report found that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are potentially being targeted by scammers each year. While there is no specific estimate for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the report noted, a 2024 estimate by the Government Accountability Office said that Between $233 billion and $521 billion of taxpayer dollars allocated to federal programs are lost to fraud each year. Federal health care programs accounted for 24% of federal spending in 2024, according to the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities. Medicaid specifically is riddled with vulnerabilities that make it susceptible to fraud, according to the report, which is why House Republicans are implementing 14 bills aimed at closing loopholes in the system, reducing bureaucracy and making it easier for states to recover lost dollars, while also incentivizing them to go after potential fraudsters. Programs with federal and state taxpayer dollars are cheated through fraud, inflating health care costs that are passed on to everyone,” the committee report states. “Every dollar stolen from federal health care programs is a dollar not spent on high-quality health care for those who need it most.” WHITE HOUSE PUSHES ‘BASIN’ REFORM TO FIGHT FRAUD IN CONGRESS AS VANCE CONVENES TASK FORCE “The amount of fraud that the Biden-Harris administration allowed to go unchecked in government health programs is unacceptable. Every dollar stolen by scammers or wasted on improper payments is a dollar that cannot be used to support needy families who rely on these programs,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital. A bill led by Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, for example, would force states to designate a single function for internal financial controls of state programs. Medicaid.READ: DR. OZ NOTIFIES TOP 50 GOVERNORS OVER BILLION LOST TO MEDICAID FRAUD The bill by Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Ohio, would require each state to annually report to the federal government about any potential Medicaid fraud vulnerability and its plan to address it, and legislation by Rep. Nick Langworthy, R.N.Y., would require states to check whether someone who enrolls in Medicaid has been removed from another program. The report released Tuesday said Medicaid spending accounts for an average of 30.7% of states’ budgets, and those outlays have increased exponentially in recent years. States like New York and California are also expected to see costs rise, according to the report. California and New York are two of the states that have seen spending on Medicaid-type programs skyrocket, according to the report. Getty Images) TOP FEDERAL ATTORNEY CALLS CALIFORNIA A ‘SCAMMER’S PARADISE,’ WARNS STATE OFFICIALS COULD FACE CHARGES The Golden State is expected to see annual spending on Medi-Cal, its state health care program, rise from $83 billion a year in 2014 to $219.7 billion by 2027, according to the report said, adding, “New York is projected to spend 11% more on Medicaid from all funding sources in 2027, a total of $124 billion.” The report noted that federal health care is ripe for fraud due to its size and complexity, as well as the traditional “pay and chase” enforcement model, which relies on law enforcement to investigate suspected fraud after a false claim has already been resolved for services and equipment for patients who have never been billed. seen, the report says. Transnational criminal groups have also benefited from health care fraud in the U.S., according to the report, alleging that hard-working Americans are seeing their tax dollars lost not only to fraud at home but also abroad. Criminal actors billed more than $10 million in false claims made through 30 medical supply companies they purchased in a years-long scheme, the report said. that evil actors in Hong Kong, Georgia, Estonia, Pakistan and elsewhere attempted to steal billions more in dollars from American taxpayers. The fraud reports come at a time when millions of Americans across the country are struggling with high costs of living that have made making ends meet a challenge to ensure states can recover dollars lost to fraud and incentivize them to close loopholes in the future. NEWS It comes as the Trump administration is also prioritizing a crackdown on health care fraud. Vice President JD Vance announced last week that 760,000 enrollees in the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, would be removed over fraud allegations Elizabeth Elkind is a political reporter for Fox News Digital and leads coverage of the House of Representatives Previous digital signatures seen on Daily Mail and CBS News. elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
