EDITORIAL: Trump administration cracks down on fraud

EDITORIAL: Trump administration cracks down on fraud Las Vegas Review-Journal September 26, 2026 - 9:01 pm The ability to distinguish meaningful differences is fundamental. Consider a 250‑pound high‑school senior who shoves a younger student in a hallway; the act may merit suspension. The same shove on a football field could draw cheers. A driver traveling 90 mph on the freeway risks a speeding ticket, yet someone who steps into the path of an ambulance moving at that speed could be cited. Sugar and salt may appear similar, but mixing them up while baking renders chocolate‑chip cookies inedible. The same principle applies to government spending. Just because an agency allocates funds for a worthy‑sounding purpose does not guarantee the money is used wisely. Elected officials and public employees have a duty to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent prudently. Campaign rhetoric often echoes this sentiment. Politicians from both parties frequently call for eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse,” yet the Trump administration’s concrete actions deserve attention. In March, President Donald Trump appointed Vice President JD Vance to lead a newly created Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. On Tuesday, Vance announced the initiative had identified roughly 760,000 individuals who had been fraudulently enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans. He said these enrollments occurred because the government was not verifying eligibility, and brokers had a financial incentive to boost sign‑ups. Paragon Health Institute, a conservative think tank, estimated that as many as six million “phantom enrollees” could exist. Brokers might have signed up nonexistent people or enrolled individuals without their knowledge. To combat the problem, the administration announced a moratorium on new brokers effective early next year. Vance projected the measures would save $2.2 billion, noting that the total could rise as the administration continues to review hundreds of thousands of additional enrollees. Rep. Richard Neal, D‑Mass., ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, criticized the move as an attempt to strip health coverage “away entirely.” This is nonsense. If you cannot take benefits away from people who do not exist, what is the purpose of means‑testing at all? HUD Secretary Scott Turner testified earlier this year that his department had uncovered more than $5 billion in conceivable overpayment errors. His office also recovered funds that had been sent to about 30,000 deceased individuals during the Biden administration. Halting payments to the dead could attract bipartisan support. In July, the Department of Health and Human Services postponed more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to Minnesota and California. The decision followed concerns about flagged providers and rising in‑home care expenditures. Approximately one‑quarter of the funds directed to California went to assist individuals with “unsatisfactory migration status,” according to Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He described the situation as an “ongoing monolithic problem for California.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accused the administration of “cutting more money in health care than they’ve pursued for fraud.” Gavin Newsom’s office labeled the action a “recycled governmental stunt.” On