❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) uncovered fraud in Obamacare subsidies, including $94 million paid to insurers for dead people.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The GAO, House Ways and Means Committee, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
📍WHEN & WHERE: Findings announced on December 3, 2025, covering data from several years prior, affecting the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) marketplaces.
💬KEY QUOTE: “GAO’s troubling report is the smoking gun that shows how this broken system, shielded by Democrat policies, has led to the federal government shoveling tens of billions of tax dollars to insurance companies through identity fraud and caused health care costs to skyrocket for all Americans.” – Congressman Jason Smith (R-MO)
🎯IMPACT: Taxpayers could be losing up to $27 billion annually due to improper Obamacare payments, while patients face higher costs and denied or delayed care.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has revealed significant fraud in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidy system, including $94 million paid to insurers for people who were dead. The findings, announced by the GOP-led House Ways and Means Committee, suggest there are systemic problems in how Obamacare is administered. In total, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the fraud costs taxpayers upwards of $27 billion annually.
According to the GAO, 58,000 Social Security Numbers (SSNs) that received advanced premium tax credits matched Social Security death data. Of these, at least 7,000 individuals were confirmed to have died before their coverage began. Investigators also created fictitious identities using fake or never-issued SSNs, all of which were approved for subsidized Obamacare coverage. Many of these approvals occurred without document verification, even when fake documents, including fake citizenship eligibility papers, were submitted.
The investigation found that monthly subsidies paid to health insurers on behalf of these fraudulent identities exceeded $12,300. In one case, a single SSN was used to apply for over 125 insurance policies, amounting to 26,000 days of coverage—equivalent to 71 years. In 2023 alone, 66,000 SSNs were associated with more than a year’s worth of subsidized coverage.
Additionally, the GAO discovered $21 billion in subsidies paid out in 2023 without evidence of tax reconciliation—accounting for about 23 percent of the $92 billion in total Obamacare subsidies that year. Complaints filed with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed 275,000 cases of Americans being enrolled in or switched to plans without their consent. Of these, 160,000 unauthorized changes were attributed to actions by three or more brokers.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) stated, “While Democrats defend waste, fraud, and abuse, Republicans are taking action to lower health care costs and protect care for all real, living Americans. GAO’s troubling report is the smoking gun that shows how this broken system, shielded by Democrat policies, has led to the federal government shoveling tens of billions of tax dollars to insurance companies through identity fraud and caused health care costs to skyrocket for all Americans.”
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