America is drowning in nearly $35 trillion in national debt. We should be wisely saving every public penny we can, yet a depressing new report from Paragon Health Institute found that Obamacare fraud is likely costing us more than $20 billion this year.
Under an Affordable Care Act expansion by the Biden administration, millions of enrollees now receive taxpayer subsidies even though they earn too much money.
Paragon Health Institute is a heavyweight policy analysis group led by a former Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC) in addition to a former Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services and Rhode Island’s Secretary of Health and Human Services and Medicaid Director.
The Paragon report pinpoints this ballooning healthcare fraud beginning after the Biden administration fully expanded taxpayer payments for Obamacare to people with incomes between 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level. The report notes:
President Biden signed legislation that increased these subsidies through 2025, making plans fully-subsidized for enrollees with income between 100 percent and 150 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL) … The Biden administration has also pursued administrative actions which have made this coverage more accessible for lower-income households and loosened eligibility reviews.
What’s disturbing is that Paragon reports states have more enrollees within this income bracket than live in the state. The study reports:
Overall, fraudulent exchange enrollment appears to be a significant problem in nearly half of the states. We estimate that fraudulent enrollment at 100 percent to 150 percent FPL is likely upwards of four to five million people in 2024. We estimate, conservatively, that this cost will likely be upwards of $15 to $20 billion this year.
As this chart from the report shows, Obamacare fraud is costly, here shown on a per-patient basis:
The report recommends sensible steps to reduce fraudulent exchange enrollment, including Congress allowing the enhanced subsidies to expire after 2025 and Congress raising subsidy recapture limits to reduce incentives for people to misestimate their income.
It also suggests, “Congress should conduct aggressive oversight of the Biden administration’s management of HealthCare.gov, enhanced direct enrollment, and insurer and broker actions to take advantage of misestimating income.”
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned us, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” We must protect our healthcare system to ensure it is run with integrity in order to preserve it for future generations.
