Obamacare subsidies granted without documentation to 90% of fake accounts set up by government watchdog
A watchdog report released on Wednesday alleges that the federal Affordable Care Act has been awarding subsidies to 90 % of fictitious applicants over the past two years, all without the required documentation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that its preliminary testing of the ACA marketplace—especially the advance premium tax credit—has uncovered “fraud risks.” These findings come after Democrats attempted last month to extend the tax credit for a third year and failed.
According to the GAO, the federal Marketplace approved coverage for nearly all of its made‑up applicants in both 2024 and 2025, mirroring similar testing carried out between 2014 and 2016. In 2024 every one of the four fake applicants received coverage with lower monthly premiums, thanks to $2,350 a month in subsidies available to insurers, even though they did not submit “documentation to support Social Security numbers (SSN), citizenship, and reported income.” The GAO increased the number of test applicants to 20 in 2025, and by September 18 of those remained actively covered. The total subsidies approved for those 18 fake enrollees exceeded $10,000 per month.
The agency also uncovered evidence that Social Security numbers were being misused, including dead persons receiving coverage. In 2023 one SSN was used for more than 26,000 days of subsidized insurance across more than 125 policies—equivalent to over 71 years of coverage. In 2024, 66,000 SSNs linked to more than a year’s worth of subsidies. By comparing SSNs of deceased individuals to those receiving tax credits, the GAO found over 58,000 matches in 2023, including at least 7,000 people who had died before coverage began.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the federal marketplace, does not block a Social Security number that has already been used for enrollment—a policy intended to allow legitimate users who experience identity theft. Republican lawmakers have called this a “smoking gun” proving that Obamacare is “broken.” “GAO’s troubling report is the smoking gun that shows how this broken system, shielded by Democrat policies, has led to the federal government shoveling tens of billions of tax dollars to insurance companies through identity fraud and caused health care costs to skyrocket for all Americans,” said House Ways‑and‑Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R‑Mo.).
Smith, along with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R‑Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R‑Ohio), requested the GAO investigation. “Republicans have sounded the alarm on the flawed structural integrity of Obamacare and how Democrats’ failed policies to temporarily prop up the program have exacerbated fraud, hurt patients, increased the burden on American taxpayers, and artificially masked the true health care affordability crisis plaguing Americans today,” Guthrie said. “The concerning findings from GAO’s report further confirm that Republican efforts to strengthen, secure, and sustain our federal health programs are critical and necessary to ensure access to quality health care at prices Americans can afford.”
Jordan agreed that the report “confirms what we already knew: under Obamacare, hardworking Americans saw their premiums skyrocket and their healthcare choices shrink, all while fraud benefitted insurance companies.” He added that “Obamacare was built on lies and broken promises that hurt families and drove up costs.”
Part of a recent deal between Senate Democrats and Majority Leader John Thune (R‑SD) to reopen the government, the Senate is expected to consider a vote later this month on extending the pandemic‑era ACA tax credit, which is set to expire at year‑end.
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