Trump Fraud Task Force's 10-Point Plan to Stop Crooks Pilfering Your Services—Why It Matters
Unused accounting systems that are so obvious, it's shocking they are not already in place. Fixing fraud is not hard if Congress has the will to act.
If you're sick of crooks stealing the care you were promised, you have a champion in JD Vance.
The Trump-Vance administration's Anti-Fraud Task Force just defined its plan to combat rampant fraud in the safety-net programs meant to help struggling Americans. Taxpayers spend billions annually on these programs but too often money meant for someone in need ends up in the hands of a fraudsters gaming our very lax system.
The first fix Vance recommends: stronger sentences for fraud. He's right. Theft has flourished because it's been allowed to. Fraudsters take the risk of getting caught because there are billions of dollars at stake—and not enough deterrence for crime.
"I was shocked by how often we would just let low-level fraud go, like a million dollars of fraud. That's a lot of money," Vance said. "A person who had enriched themselves to the tune of a million dollars—sometimes we wouldn't even prosecute this stuff—and even when we do prosecute it, we are limited by the penalties applied."
The second fix: compel states to share key data that can be used identify fraud.
"Data is the enemy of fraud," Vance said, yet states that receive federal funds do not have to share data on the programs they administer with the feds who provide the taxpayer money. Restoration News recently reported on the federal court battles to obtain SNAP data from resistant states.
If states want to participate in federal programs funded by your tax dollars, they need to help fight fraud.
"Any state who doesn't want to share data, we should learn a lot about the leadership of that state," Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson said. "If they want to protect fraud or they [don't] want to protect ordinary Americans, something really rotten is happening in that state."
How We Fix It for Good
- Pre-payment verification of providers/retailers
Government agencies must verify that every Medicaid provider or SNAP retail store is legitimate and eligible before any payment is issued, instead of paying first and checking later.
- Background checks for high-risk healthcare providers
Require criminal background checks and fingerprinting for healthcare providers in categories with high rates of Medicaid fraud and E-verify provider credentials at least every three years.
- Immigration-status checks for welfare applicants
Require states to verify every welfare applicant through the federal government's free, real-time immigration status database before issuing taxpayer-funded benefits.
- Monthly cross-checks of welfare rolls
Require states to compare welfare rolls every month against death records, wage records, and incarceration records.
- Double the number of welfare fraud investigators
Increasing investigators will ensure fraud cases can be aggressively investigated and prosecuted.
- More secure benefit cards
Upgrade welfare benefit cards (food and cash assistance) to have secure chip technology, a photo, and an expiration date.
- Ban high-risk retailers from taking SNAP
Prohibit high-risk retailers, such as some liquor stores and smoke shops, from accepting SNAP benefits.
- End automatic re-enrollment via pre-populated forms
Prohibit the use of government-issued pre-populated forms to automatically re-enroll people into Medicaid.
- Eliminate self-attestation of eligibility
End the practice of allowing applicants to report their own income and household information without documentation to prove it. Instead, require proof of income and eligibility before benefits are approved.
- Stop Medicaid payments after death and claw back overpayments
Require state Medicaid programs that pay health insurers on behalf of people who have already died to stop payments immediately once a death is reported and require insurance companies to return any money collected after the enrollee's death.
Why is the Media Ignoring Fraud?
New York Times: No story about the fraud plan, but the word "fraud" is used once, in the 23rd paragraph of this attack piece on Vance written by chief White House correspondent Peter Baker the day after the press conference. Insults, Expletives and Fat-Shaming: Vance Trolls Critics on the Right and Left
CNN: Crickets.
MSNOW: Zip.
NPR: Nada.
Why It Matters to You
Every dollar that ends up in the wrong hands—and the Trump administration has identified hundreds of billions— means fewer people are helped by your tax dollars. Fraud leaves two victims: the taxpayer and the deserving person who cannot get enough help at the right time because there is not enough money to go around.
If you read the list of 10 proposals above and thought, "Why aren't they already doing this!?" you have the right idea. Any lawmaker resistant to these obvious system repairs must be in on the take. There is no other rational explanation for failing to protect our money.
- Why the Battle Against Fraud Has Become a Conservative Calling Card
- Minnesota Quietly Purged 18,000 Dead Medicaid Providers. The Number Was Missing from Its Big Announcement.
- Follow the Fraud: These States Are Still Stonewalling SNAP Transparency
- Wisconsin’s $14 million Financial Fraudster Buys Hundreds of Snowmobiles with Investor Money
- Multi-Billion-Dollar DOJ Medical Fraud Takedown Underscores How Elections Have Consequences
