Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme

The Trump administration says it has uncovered a massive fraud problem inside the Affordable Care Act exchanges, alleging that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 after the Biden administration weakened key enrollment safeguards.

According to a Department of Health and Human Services report obtained by Fox News Digital, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments from the system.

The report estimates that another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain under review.

Administration officials say the findings are part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to eliminate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption across federal programs while protecting taxpayer dollars.

The HHS report traces the alleged abuse to Biden-era policy changes that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.

At the beginning of former President Joe Biden’s term, roughly 10 million people were enrolled through Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, that number had climbed to about 22 million.

Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the people listed.

“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.

“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a social security number.”

The report identifies several forms of alleged abuse.

Officials say some applicants understated their income in order to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.

Others allegedly received premium assistance despite not meeting eligibility requirements.

Investigators also identified what they called “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly signed people up for Obamacare plans without their knowledge in order to collect federal commissions.

According to the report, weaker verification standards made those abuses far easier to carry out.

Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating fraudulent or phantom policies.

Officials also say they have tightened oversight of agents and brokers participating in the federal marketplace.

Those efforts have already resulted in nearly three million enrollments being removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.

The administration says the goal is not to take coverage away from people who legitimately qualify, but to make sure taxpayer-funded benefits go only to those who are actually eligible.

“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.

“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”

The report also makes clear that additional enforcement actions are expected.

“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”

The findings are likely to reignite a national debate over Obamacare, eligibility verification, and how aggressively Washington should police taxpayer-funded health programs.

Supporters of the Trump administration argue the report proves that looser enrollment rules create obvious opportunities for fraud and improper payments.

Critics of the Biden-era verification rollbacks have long warned that reducing safeguards would invite abuse, inflate enrollment numbers, and waste billions in taxpayer funds.

Supporters of the Biden policies argued those changes made healthcare coverage easier to access for eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.

But the Trump administration’s findings suggest that accessibility came with a major cost.

For conservatives, the issue is straightforward: government benefits should go to people who qualify, not to phantom enrollees, ineligible applicants, or brokers gaming the system for commissions.

The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with another 2.6 million enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.

If the report’s estimates hold, the Obamacare fraud problem could become one of the clearest examples yet of what happens when Washington expands federal benefits while weakening the basic safeguards meant to protect taxpayers.