Rep. Jodey Arrington:
Well, we’re going to make sure we actually eliminate the waste that exists in the federal government, not just in the Medicaid program, but across the federal government.
The Government Accountability Office estimates just within 70 programs in the federal government a $2.7 trillion in waste, fraud, and abuse. And then fraud, government-wide, they say on the higher end is $5 trillion. So we have to put the program integrity measures in place to make sure those who are legally eligible are those receiving the benefits that the taxpayers and lawmakers intended.
But, for example, if you just review for eligibility not once but twice a year, going back to the Trump administration policies, you will actually not only prevent the fraudulent spending of tax dollars, but you will save $160 billion that you can put towards reducing the deficit and making not just Medicaid, but all of these programs sustainable today that are not sustainable.
So, program integrity, state accountability, personal responsibility. SNAP has requirements for able-bodied adults who are able to work to work to receive the benefit. And we think that it’s responsible to do that across the government. Medicaid doesn’t have that. For example, these are some of the things that will be meted out at the committee level.
