S.T. Karnick writes for the Federalist about Congress’ role in ending massive entitlement fraud.
American taxpayers have been victimized by at least $36 billion and possibly as much as $3 trillion in fraud through federal government entitlement programs since 2020, a new investigative report states. The fraud revelations provide a great opportunity for Congress and the president to offer real reforms that would cut this enormous waste — especially in the most-corrupted entitlements, those for health care — to ensure that the benefits are reserved for the truly needy.
Massive fraud is embedded in the very structure of the system. Unfortunately, politicians, big corporations, and tens of millions of people benefit from the corrupt system and block change at every opportunity. …
… A 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report concluded fraud cost federal taxpayers $233 billion to $521 billion per year from 2018 to 2022. The “entitlement programs constitute the bulk of federal spending and presumably fraud, too,” American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Matt Weidinger told The Center Square.
Annual Medicare and Medicaid fraud has more than doubled since 2020, the news agency reports. …
… The very design of these programs rewards theft and invites corruption. The dual-funding structure of Medicaid, with the federal government providing most of the money, enables states to profit by allowing ineligible people to draw benefits. …
… The proper reform of this fundamentally destructive system would be to kick all the entitlement programs — Medicaid, Medicare, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, housing assistance, Social Security, and everything else — down to the state level with no federal spending, oversight, or regulation. The appalling condition of the federal entitlement system proves the founders’ wisdom in leaving issues such as health care to the states. The fact that all this government spending expands demand and makes health care unaffordable for millions of people is a national scandal.
However, the gigantic beneficiary class for these programs makes a return to constitutional government politically impossible.
