ObamaCare fraud is rampant, according to investigators at the Government Accountability Office, who testified at a House Ways and Means hearing Wednesday.
A probe by the House Ways and Means Committee found GAO investigators successfully obtained coverage and health care subsidies using fake identities.
The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, said 11 out of 12 online and phone applications submitted using “fictitious identities” were accepted, resulting in subsidized health coverage.
“For each of our 11 approved applications, we paid the required premiums to put policies into force, and are continuing to pay the premiums. For the 11 applications that were approved for coverage, we obtained the advance premium tax credit in all cases,” the report said.
According to the GAO, the total amount for these credits was $2,500 monthly, adding up to $30,000 a year.
GAO officials testified before a House Ways and Means subcommittee Wednesday. On Tuesday, members of the committee were given a copy of the testimony from Seto Bagdoyan, head of GAO’s Forensic Audits and Investigative Service.
“We are seeing a trend with ObamaCare information systems: under every rock, there is incompetence, waste, and the potential for fraud,” Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. “This law is already hitting Americans where it hurts the most – their pocketbooks. Now, this administration is forcing the American taxpayer to foot the bill for ObamaCare’s waste and fraud.”
The undercover investigators created fake identities by inventing Social Security numbers, income, and citizenship, and by counterfeiting documents.
Of the 11 out of 12 fake online or telephone applications that were approved, 5 of 6 phone applications were successful. It was only due to one caller who declined to give a Social Security number that all were not approved. Six online applications were initially blocked by the verification system, but the investigators were able to find a workaround by going through the call center.
In fact, contractors processing applications repeatedly told the GAO investigators their role was not to bother checking for fraud.
The findings from the GAO investigation are only known now because the investigation was requested by several Republican senators and representatives before the insurance exchanges launched in the fall.
