“A bombshell report from the Government Accountability Office confirms what Republicans have been saying all along” about the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) reported Thursday.
“Unaffordable Care Act subsidies are riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse. They benefit insurance companies and cost the American taxpayers BILLIONS,” Scalise wrote in a social media post, highlighting results of the newly-released GAO report:
The investigation found:
▪️ 100% of fake applicants were approved by Obamacare’s marketplace as recently as late 2024, and 90% continue receiving coverage in 2025.
▪️ Marketplaces approved coverage with no documents or fake documents.
▪️ 58,000 Social Security numbers belonging to dead people received subsidies.
▪️ $94 million in subsidies were sent to insurers for deceased individuals.
The report discusses the preliminary results of GAO’s work on fraud risk management in the advance premium tax credit (APTC), a subsidy that the government pays to insurance companies to make premiums more affordable for eligible Americans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The covert testing by the GAO found that the overwhelming majority of fake applications it submitted were approved:
“Preliminary results from GAO's ongoing covert testing suggest fraud risks in the advance premium tax credit (APTC) persist. The federal Marketplace approved coverage for nearly all of GAO's fictitious applicants in plan years 2024 and 2025, generally consistent with similar GAO testing in plan years 2014 through 2016.
“Plan year 2025. Of 20 fictitious applicants, 18 remain actively covered as of September 2025. APTC for these 18 enrollees totals over $10,000 per month. GAO continues to monitor the enrollments as part of its ongoing work.”
The GAO investigation was requested by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“Rather than simply rubber stamp more bad spending and failed policies, we must take action to prevent further harm,” Chairman Smith said, commenting on the report’s findings.
