The Government Accountability Office just blew the whistle on a shocking, systemic failure in the Affordable Care Act’s subsidy program that taxpayers should never forget. In a preliminary report released December 3, 2025, GAO’s covert testing found the federal marketplace routinely approved fake applicants and funneled taxpayer-funded premium tax credits to people who never proved identity, income, or citizenship. This is not an abstract audit; it is real money being handed out to ghost accounts while hardworking Americans pick up the tab.
What makes this intolerable is that it’s not new. GAO warned about the same kinds of enrollment and verification failures a decade ago, publishing similar undercover findings in 2016 that exposed the marketplace enrolling fictitious applicants and paying subsidies without proper checks. That gap between warnings and meaningful fixes is a disgrace and exposes either gross incompetence or willful negligence at the agencies charged with protecting taxpayer dollars.
The details GAO uncovered are nothing short of scandalous: all four fictitious applicants submitted in late 2024 were approved for subsidized coverage, and 18 of 20 fabricated identities created for 2025 were still receiving subsidies as of September, costing tens of thousands of dollars a month. The report also found massive misuse of Social Security numbers, including one number tied to more than 125 policies, and evidence of hundreds of thousands of unauthorized enrollment changes. Americans who balance budgets and pay taxes deserve better than a program that rewards fraud and punishes honesty.
Congressional Republicans are right to be furious, and they’re not overstating the damage: committee statements and GOP leaders call the wastes “billions” and demand answers and accountability for the theft. This is exactly the kind of waste and moral hazard that conservative reformers have warned about for years — expand subsidies without verification and you invite abuse on an industrial scale. If Democrats are so proud of these expansions, they can also stand behind the oversight that guarantees they aren’t paying bribes to fraudsters.
This report lands at the worst possible moment, with a fierce partisan fight underway over whether to extend enhanced ACA tax credits and how to patch the program. Lawmakers and voters should treat the GAO findings as the last straw: before any extension or expansion is considered, Congress must insist on rigorous identity verification, real-time fraud prevention, and criminal referrals where appropriate. The country cannot keep papering over failures with more taxpayer dollars and expect different results.
Make no mistake: this is about justice for taxpayers and protection for patients. GAO found that CMS hasn’t updated a comprehensive fraud risk assessment since 2018 and failed to develop an antifraud strategy that aligns with leading practices, a dereliction that has predictable consequences. Republican calls for independent investigations, immediate suspension of suspicious enrollments, and prosecutions where evidence exists are not political theater — they are the minimum response demanded by decency and common sense. If we are serious about stewardship of the public purse, those responsible for enabling this rot must face real consequences.
