'Tip of the Iceberg': You're Not Going to Believe the Amount of Fraud and Waste in 'Safety Net' Programs
Rick Moran
The headline probably has most of you saying to yourselves: Of course, I believe the amount of fraud taking place in federal 'safety net' programs. No matter what number you report, Moran, I've already imagined it.
I'd agree with you, except that the scale of the fraud, waste, and lax enforcement is beyond anything anyone ever imagined.
Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a contributing editor at Reason, has spent her entire career as a voice crying in the wilderness, trying to get Congress, opinion-makers, and citizens to pay attention to the extraordinarily lax oversight of most government spending.
Will the Minnesota Medicaid fraud scandal finally be the tipping point that will convince the parties to get serious about safeguarding the taxpayers' money? "The outrage is justified because Americans are finally getting a concrete look at what happens when pushing public money out the door matters more than verifying the eligibility of the recipients, confirming services were delivered, or, ultimately, being a good steward of taxpayers' money," writes de Rugy.
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota are suggesting that up to half the $18 billion spent on 14 Medicaid-funded Minnesota programs since 2018 may have been tied to fraud. Yes, that's nine billion dollars of "government" money. It's not real. "A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, pretty soon, you're talking about real money," said former Illinois Sen. Everett Dirksen.
more
https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2026/01/13/tip-of-the-iceberg-youre-not-going-to-believe-the-amount-of-fraud-and-waste-in-safety-net-programs-n4948213
