Vice President JD Vance is set to announce new action targeting alleged Obamacare fraud at the White House Tuesday morning, The Post has learned. The move follows a series of crackdowns that have restricted funding for other federal healthcare programs.
As President Trump’s fraud czar, Vance has made alleged theft from multibillion-dollar taxpayer-funded medical programs a central focus. His efforts have generally paired fraud accusations with steps to halt funding considered vulnerable to misuse.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration intensifies its campaign against President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. Earlier this month, Trump vowed to “stop all government payments to the big insurance companies” if Republicans maintain control of Congress.
The details of Vance’s remarks, including whether they will include new federal measures, were not immediately known. Congressional investigations, however, have uncovered significant alleged fraud involving the enrollment process for subsidies under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Vance has previously announced that Medicaid reimbursements to states would be withheld for certain low-income programs considered especially vulnerable to fraud. He also placed a moratorium on durable medical equipment providers participating in traditional Medicare and suspended 447 purported hospice providers in California.
A December report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that 66,000 Social Security numbers were enrolled in multiple Obamacare plans as of 2024. In one case, a single number was used for 125 policies.
The investigation also determined that approximately $94 million in federal subsidies went toward plans created using the Social Security number of a deceased person.
The GAO estimated that insurers may have charged tax-credit applications in roughly 160,000 cases without taxpayer authorization. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also recorded 270,000 complaints over an eight-month period from people who were enrolled in, or switched to, plans they did not want.
The report further found that insurers did not verify a person’s income for one-third of the tax credits issued in 2023.
Vance’s planned announcement follows Trump’s warning that he would increase pressure on insurers if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate in the Nov. 3 election.
“We call it the great healthcare plan to stop all government payments to the big insurance companies,” Trump said in a Sept. 9 speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. “The insurance companies own the Democrats. They own them. And [we will] give the money directly to the people for you to go out and buy your own healthcare.”
Trump has also said he wants to bring insurance executives to the White House and pressure them to reduce costs. His proposal follows his successful push for prescription drug companies to lower the prices paid by Medicare and Medicaid, bringing them in line with rates paid by eight other high-income countries.
