Nothing says "program integrity" quite like discovering over a million people enrolled in your healthcare marketplace without bothering to provide a Social Security number. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz dropped that little bombshell in a video released by HHS, as The American Tribune reported.
Kennedy was not exactly subtle about where he thinks the blame belongs. "The Obamacare marketplace is plagued by fraud in large part because the Biden administration dismantled basic program integrity guardrails," he stated in the video. "A partisan lawfare blocked the common sense efforts to protect taxpayers." So basically the previous administration took the locks off the doors and then acted surprised when people walked in and helped themselves.
According to a June HHS brief, CMS flagged close to a million broker-assisted sign-ups through HealthCare.Gov that had no Social Security number and owed zero premium. Investigators identified them as suspicious, though they stopped short of confirming outright fraud. According to a report from The Daily Caller, HHS says it has already stripped or blocked almost 2.9 million improper enrollments and believes another 2.6 million are still lurking in the system. A Trump administration official pegged the monetary damage at somewhere close to $10 billion across 2021 through 2024. That is a lot of taxpayer money going to people who apparently do not exist on paper.
Dr. Oz, who spent years telling people on daytime television to eat more kale, is now telling fraudulent brokers to start running. He pointed out that some agents have been gaming the system for commissions. "Some of these agents refuse to follow basic rules like providing their clients Social Security number. That, my friends, is a huge red flag," he stated. He wrapped up with what might be the most dramatic thing he has said since recommending green coffee bean extract: "If you're a fraudster, here's our advice to you. Do not walk away from us, run. Because we are going to find you."
Outside analysts seem to agree something is off. The Paragon Health Institute estimated about 6.2 million improper 2026 sign-ups, which would be 27 percent of exchange enrollment. KFF, a health policy group, sees the picture differently, attributing record enrollment growth to enhanced subsidies and warning that 3.8 million people could lose coverage if Congress lets those credits expire.
So we have a healthcare marketplace that apparently had the verification standards of a gas station loyalty card, brokers allegedly signing up ghosts to collect commissions, and a price tag that could buy you a small fleet of aircraft carriers. The real question is how a system that handles billions of dollars managed to go years without someone raising their hand and asking, "Hey, should we maybe check if these people are real?"
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