In the latest move by the Trump administration to root out government waste, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid plan to remove duplicative health insurance coverage from 2.8 million Americans improperly enrolled in taxpayer-funded healthcare plans.
CMS analyzed Medicaid enrollment data from 2024 and found that each month, roughly 1.2 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP in multiple states, while roughly 1.6 million people were enrolled in one of those programs as well as a subsidized Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchange plan.
The erroneous enrollments have cost the federal government and taxpayers approximately $14 billion per year in duplicate payments. CMS says it will partner with states to end the inappropriate payments while ensuring that those 2.8 million Americans retain correct healthcare coverage.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., praised CMS’s actions in a Monday statement, saying it “builds upon work by House Republicans” in the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which “gives tools to CMS and the States to prevent wasteful spending like this from happening again.”
Even though federal regulations require ACA exchanges, or marketplaces, to regularly inspect data for improper enrollments via the Medicaid Periodic Data Matching process, the Biden administration temporarily halted these examinations to ensure continuous enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our health care safety nets should serve the most vulnerable Americans—not be an open tab for fraud and abuse,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said in a statement. “I’m encouraged to see CMS moving fast to fix this problem – but make no mistake: this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to waste, fraud, and abuse in our government.”
Beginning in early August, CMS will provide states with lists of people enrolled in multiple states or in multiple plans and require states to confirm these enrollees’ eligibility. CMS will also notify individuals who are dual enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP and an ACA Exchange plan and ask them to either disenroll from the program(s) or end their subsidy.
“We are going to work with states to identify individuals enrolled in multiple programs and fix the duplicate enrollment problem to save taxpayers billions of dollars, while minimizing inappropriate coverage loss,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz promised.
“This is exactly why we fought for stronger tools in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – to go after this type of waste and finally put a stop to paying twice for the same person’s health coverage,” he said.
Thérèse Bourdreaux is a reporter covering the federal government for The Center Square, with a focus on Congress. Previously, she covered the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, with a focus on the 2024 elections. Thérèse graduated with a major in politics from Hillsdale College in May of 2024, where she produced award-winning radio journalism.
Reprinted with permission from The Center Square by Thérèse Bourdreaux.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Hopefully, the first ones to be taken off the welfare rolls are the illegal immigrants.
Wow, The government is finally working for “We The People”!
We have DOGE to thank for this; during Fox’s Brett Baier’s interview, they said this was likely happening!
I knew that the tens of thousands of dollars my wife and I paid in taxes were wasted in 1/1000 of a second. Awesome start! Thank you.
Great job for finding this failure and saving the honest Americans their tax dollars!!
I have just two questions in regards of the findings, Q1. what employees are responsible for protecting our tax dollars and will there consequences for their failure!! Q2. The person or persons who collected a double payment from Medicare and Medicaid be forced to provide a repayment of the funds and will and be accountable for accepting a double payment and not coming forward; which is the same as stealing!!!!
Democrats will find a Marxist left wing liberal judge to block this. It’s part of the income stream for the Democrats
All it would really take is some new computer software, et. al. Long overdue.
gotta know there is more to save – AND at state levels as well – KEEP cross checking databases and invalid SSNs/alias names/bogus addresses – THEN TRULY clean up databases, claw back the fraud monies and CONTINUE the vigilance –
Excellent reporting. This is something I wanted to know about, but have not heard it through other sources. Thank you.
And these people will scream the loudest and be on the propaganda networks with a sound bite “Trump took away my Medicaid”. How else are the lefties going to keep control over their sheep. The lefties look at these benefits as entitlements and call Soc Sec a handout. Because our payments into the SS system were going for frivolous entities, like politicians pockets. They can’t even account where USAid went to. Like Zelensky doesn’t know where our money for his war went to. Have you heard about the pedophile charity Mrs. Zelensky set up. The orphaned children are sent out of the country to rich neighborhoods in Germany, France and UK. Trump and his staff are going after the fraud and waste that has been dragging America into debt for years. Trump the people president. The dems can’t figure that out. They hate the people especially if they can think for themselves.
Will the double dippers have to pay back what they were not supposed to receive??
Well now the dem/lib/commie/socialist FAKE NEWS will have the following headline 2.8 MILLION ON MEDICAID WILL LOSE THEIR BENEFITS…..on page 54 in very small print will be the retraction–” these people are registered in different states and getting their benefits illegally”……
Keep going for there is so much corruption and government waste! Please prosecute these thieves that steal from the taxpayers and Uncle Sam!
This WONDERFUL news is just going to piss off the Lefty-Loser Dems. Which makes it all the more WONDERFUL.
Now wipe the roster clean of ALL able-bodied but LAZY BUMS STEALING taxpayer dollars. .
Now, sue for full restitution back to the U.S. Taxpayers, AND jail time for ALL who are complicit in the Medicaid Fraud scandals!!
signing up several times is probably encouraged by the California government.
Pretty sad to see how many have dual,triple coverages when many are doing everything the right way and struggling to get care that only covers a minimal amount after deductible, copay and
“allowed” Coverages.
That’s after doctors, health systems and all jump through the “invisible ” hoops the insurance companies make them go through. Then they all get their bonuses.
Pretty sweet deal if you are part of that– well except the patient.
So when I hear of individuals getting double coverages,while I struggle? It really angers me.
That’s my wonderful Medicare & Medicare Advantage (which is a joke).
Don’t ask them—TELL them.
I would like to be given an example of where the money flows when an individual is registered for Medicaid in multiple states or enrolled in both Medicaid and a subsidized Obamacare plan. The article speaks of duplication, but doesn’t go so far as to explain whether the excess money goes to individuals, medical providers, patients, or underwriters.
These people should pay back what they stole from US taxpayers!!
My understanding is that money is spent when the service is used. It was not clear to me if a premium was being paid for any of these plans. What ever it is I’m glad that billions won’t be wasted once this is properly administered. I’m a DOGE fan. Good work, guys.
Retroactive collection???
Democrats love wasting taxpayers money. It’s basically bribing all the benefactors of this waste and fraud to keep supporting Democrats.
Will the taxpayers get any of these monies back that DOGE is finding? The somehow rich, corrupt politicians, and anyone else who benefited financially from this, should have to pay it back.
I hope this effort is successful. States have always been responsible to report possible duplicate enrollments using the Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS). Maybe the new software will be better than PARIS.
Politicians who resist improvements to to these entitlement fraud detection are part of the problem. They also support illegals for the purpose of gaining power. The simple gain is via census count stuffing. We need a change to ensure only US citizens are counted in any census! That issue is the quiet agenda for the Dems! Resist via Congressional reps now!
If there is double dipping going on its not those that have 2 kinds of insurance it’s the ones receving the money if they charge both and take payment from both.
Go after the Dr. & Hospitals that are doing it !
Unbelievable
Can you believe the waste of our taxes? This administration is working for “ WE THE PEOPLE” and it’s about time. DOGE, and tariffs are definitely helping. Thank you DJT.
About time, What else needs to be said.
They should also make it mandatory for applicants to sign in their application disclosure, that if they lie, they will lose their benefits and will also go to jail for fraud. This will stop people from making duplicate claims. With modern technology, we should never fund fraudsters.
This absolutely disgusts me. I have a 4th generation USA citizen 51 year old niece who has 2 part time jobs and cannot afford medical insurance and these criminals are double or triple dipping!
This IS the waste and fraud that the DEMS claimed NEVER existed; 2.8M now but wait until the full process kicks in, there likely will be an “exponential” increase in the number of fraud and waste cases. This IS the “double dipping” I referred to in earlier posts; I’m glad CMS is paying attention and acting to save money AND Medicaid. Medicare NEEDS the same attention to its fraud and waste, also with “double dipping” in “dual qualification” schemes to steal money from Medicaid.
Great article. I am not tired of winning yet. Keep up the good work President Trump.
Great job and we know there are so many more cheats out there. About time we go after them.
I don’t see any mention of the state and federal government’s recouping any fraudulently obtained goods/services or money.
Can we Remove MORE??
Did anybody not know this was happening? Will anything be done about it? Oh, maybe a couple of the very obvious transgressions will float through CNN and Fox News and make the 6 O’clock condensed rapid fire news shows. But will they actually dig in and put more than a Band-Aid on it to make a difference? It’s all smoke and mirrors – nothing ever gets done.
Have the people on Social Security that are over the age of 100, stop being paid???????
SOCIAL SECURITY WILL BE REDUCED FOR ALL RECEPIENTS BY 25% IN 2033.
HOW MANY SENIORS OUT THERE CAN HAVE A REDUCTION OF 25% OF THEIR MONTHLY CHECK?????
Stop hiring illegals that don’t pay into SS & Medicare. The illegal sends that money back to their so called home country..STOP ALL ILLEGALS FROM WORKING IN THE USA.
The scumbags who are enrolled in more than one state, or in more than one program, need to be prosecuted and incarcerated. If my tax money is being used to support a worthless person, I prefer that person be locked up.
Another chunk of our tax dollars being abused by the “Biden” cabal! Together, his regime and O’Bama nearly killed our country. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of how treasonous these two and their comrades are. Yet, they are not being prosecuted for any of it. We will never stop the corruption in DC until the guilty are put in prison.
“Paying twice for the same persons health care”, what a shame. Just paying one time is very expensive. And we hear how the durable health care products are charged many times higher than the same product on the retail market. Glad the government is looking into this. Maybe the invasion of foreign people, needing care awakened a common sense reaction.
This is truly sickening to read but I’m glad this has been discovered and hopefully corrected. Will those who had been overpaid have to pay the money back? They should.
It’s about time someone checked the government books, in every department. That’s what all those government employees were hired to do, and apparently weren’t. Useless bean counters who can’t count or read.
While it’s a good thing to clear the boards of the corruption and abuse, it should have never been in place…should have been done away with years ago. The repubs don’t get to pat themselves on the back here, they have been and remain part of the problem by their lack of oversight and control. They applaud only when they have no choice. This is yet another course in political management that only works when it is forced upon the system. While this may set a precedent, I won’t count it permanent as long as our elected officials have some skin in the game.
After watching Amac slowly drifting to the left I find it hard to believe that the Amac commentators aren’t defending this type of fraud. Was it our BLUE sanctuary states? The Blue crew needs to understand the federal government doesn’t earn money themselves.
Good job. Finally the Government is working for us the people.
In order to enroll in a taxpayer funded program you have to go through a government employee(state or federal) if there is duplication that would be the fault of the employee for not doing a proper search which should be part of their job
Hallelujah!!!
I love to see the fat wallet of the government slowly be reduced. If only the fat elitists democrats would stop the stupid spending and quit giving away taxpayers money to try to control voting. Why else would they enjoy millions of criminal illegals into the blue cities?? What are their policies? Even though federal regulations require ACA exchanges, or marketplaces, to regularly inspect data for improper enrollments via the Medicaid Periodic Data Matching process, the Biden administration temporarily halted these examinations to ensure continuous enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yea the biden controlled removal of American citizens rights.