About Those ObamaCare Subsidies . . . .
Remember about 6 months ago? When I wrote that the FBI had serious concerns about the possibility for fraud concerning those ObamaCare subsidies because the data used to calculate them would be reported using the “honor system”?
Well, it looks like there’s a damn good chance the FBI was right to be concerned. Because now we’re seeing the first data regarding just how well income information reported by those qualifying for subsidies matches up with income data on file at the IRS and other government agencies.
BLUF: “T’ain’t lookin’ s’good, Cleetus. Looks to be lotsa ‘mistakes’ in them thair applikashuns.”
Specifically: over half of those who signed up through the Federal exchange (Healthcare.gov) appear to have an “inconsistency” in their application – an inconsistency that requires further explanation and/or additional documentation. The total number of applications with such an inconsistency is about 3 million.
It’s estimated that up to 1/3 of this group – or about 1 million individuals – could well be receiving an inaccurate subsidy. If they’re getting too little, they’re missing out on what the law allows. (Whether the government has any business providing squat is a different argument, one I’m not addressing here.) If they’re getting too much, though, they could be in for a huge tax issue at some point in the future.
The article doesn’t say how many of these “inconsistencies” appear to be outright fraud. But two other programs that operated on the basis of “honor system” income reporting – the “ObamaPhone” program (formally LifeLine) and the EIC tax credit – are estimated to have had historical fraud rates in the 20% to 40% range.
The discrepancy rate here for ObamaCare is consistent with a fraud rate close to that magnitude. And since it’s known that some ObamaCare navigators were advising people to understate their actual incomes in order to to qualify for subsidies, I’m guessing a large chunk of those “discrepancies” are indeed due to outright fraud.
Unfortunately, we don’t yet know much in the way of details. There’s still no working process for computer checking ObamaCare applications against income data on-file with other government agencies. The matching must be done manually, so it will take a while.
Still – this is just another bit of proof that ObamaCare is a half-baked abomination that should be burned to the ground, then the ashes buried in quicklime. With a stake through what’s left of its bureaucratic heart for good measure.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Health Care debate
I’m sure the attorney general will get right on it after he finishes up prosecuting those involved in Benghazi, the IRS scandal, voter fraud, illegal immigration, VA scandal, etc.
In other words, if this was problem was a person they would have a ticket with the number “infinity” and the sign would say now serving “3”
You mean like the scene near the end of “Beetlejuice” where Michael Keaton is in the waiting room with the witch doctor?
In other words, it is operating exactly as it was designed to operate – inefficiently, ineffectively, and producing as much criminal behavior as possible. Yeah, who could have anticipated fraud, waste and abuse. Color me shocked. Really.
No, really!
I tell ya I’ve watched the Obamaphone program in action. Where my wife works for the State, T-Mobile, comes and sets up tents. Everybody and their brother show up for a free phone. I mean even folks that are not going to the welfare office for services but people in high priced care and great clothes pull up, get out, fill out and sign a quick form and off they go. I asked the T-Mobile guy what it took to get one. He told me “just sign the form and fill out that your income is below $750 a month TOTAL. Food stamps, housing allowance, welfare money added together”. Nobody on welfare in this State gets less than $750 a month combined and therefore should not qualify. But they ask no questions of the working folks pulling up, lying on the form and walking away with a phone. They aren’t allowed to. It is the honor system the T-Mobile guy said. I asked him, just between him and me if he though their was some fraud going on. He disgustingly said, “I hate this job, I hate coming down here for this once a month. I know more than half I’ve signed up today lied to me on the form. But I can’t say anything. I’m working for a little over minimum wage plus commission and if i am honest I don’t qualify for a phone”. He did say, T-Mobile makes a lot of money from the government to pay for the program.
Expecting Government bureaucracies to fix anything is akin to expecting a chimpanzee on LSD and meth to repair a Rolex watch with a sledge hammer!
They can tell me what bank holds my house mortgage and what kind of car I drive based on personal property tax records but they cannot verify my income against IRS records? WTF is that !