Vance-led fraud task force cuts $2.2 billion in taxpayer waste by taking fraudsters off of Obamacare
Taxpayers are saving billions as officials crack down on widespread healthcare program exploitation. The Fraud Task Force is stopping Obamacare enrollment for approximately 750,000 individuals suspected of fraudulent registration. Led by Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Oz, the coordinated effort also includes verifying the legal residency and income eligibility of 419,000 additional enrollees to ensure funds reach those in need.
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Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that his White House Fraud Task Force will be removing 750,000 fraudulent ObamaCare recipients from the program in an effort he says will save U.S. taxpayers $2.2 billion.
Additionally, the administration will be employing additional verification for a further 419,000 people.
“We’re going to make sure that they are, first of all, legal residents of the United States of America, and second of all, we’re going to make sure that they actually meet the income threshold requirements in order to receive these Obamacare benefits,” Vance said.
“To put into context, the amount of money that we’re stopping from going to fraudsters today, $2.2 billion, the average American child receives about $4,000 in health care benefits every single year. That means that we are saving 550,000 American children’s worth of healthcare that was going to fraudsters, and now will go to the essential services for which it was meant to go,” he continued.
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U.S. Vice President JD Vance, flanked by Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr Mehmet Oz, and Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Andrew N. Ferguson, accepts questions during a press conference on anti-fraud initiatives at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 22, 2026. (REUTERS/Evan Vucci)
Vance criticized the administration of former President Joe Biden for incentivizing ObamaCare fraud, arguing that the administration’s incentives for brokers to enroll people in the program, combined with relaxed eligibility for the program, became the perfect recipe for rampant fraud.
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“In one case we found a fraud ring that had 40 agents, 40 brokerage agents who had funneled 50,000 people into the Obamacare system fraudulently. Now, some of those people were probably legitimate. Most of those people were not eligible either they didn’t meet the citizenship or the income requirements. Many of those people quite literally didn’t even exist.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a fellow member of Vance’s Fraud Task Force, further expanded on the non-existent individuals fraudulently entered into ObamaCare.
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“Normally 1%, a single digit, 1% of people who get Obamacare exchange plans do not have a Social Security number,” Oz said.
Vice President J.D. Vance (C), accompanied by (L-R) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Deputy Administrator & Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Brandt, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Deputy Secretary nominee Chris Klomp, speaks during a news conference on fraud at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus on September 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. Vance announced a federal crackdown on Affordable Care Act fraud, removing over 750,000 allegedly ineligible enrollments and banning hundreds of suspect brokers to save taxpayers an estimated $2.2 billion. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“We’re supposed to check their tax returns to make sure they’re making between one and four times the poverty level, so they’re eligible for all of our taxpayers to pay their insurance so they get the discount. Now, if 100% of people coming on the program don’t have Social Security numbers, I think we’d all agree there’s a problem,” he continued.
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Oz then revealed that over 1.1 million people who enrolled in ObamaCare this year had no Social Security numbers. He also revealed that 35% of enrollees have never used the program.
“They haven’t bought a prescription medication. They haven’t seen a doctor. That’s just not possible. That’s at least twice as much as your normal incidence of people having insurance and not using it. So we know there is fraud,” he added.
He then detailed the case of convicted fraudster Cory Lloyd, who he said has “a very punchable face.”
Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr Mehmet Oz, speaks next to CMS Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Brandt during a press conference on anti-fraud initiatives at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 22, 2026. (REUTERS/Evan Vucci)
Lloyd and his partner Stephen Strong, according a February announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), preyed on vulnerable consumers to enroll them in ObamaCare in a scheme to collect commission payments from insurance companies.
“These crooks bribed homeless and jobless people into enrolling in the ACA plans. They had no idea what they were doing,” Oz said.
Oz read text messages between Lloyd and Strong in which the pair schemed to enroll people who had lost their homes from hurricanes in Florida.
“This is the text message. This is… I can’t even say these words on television. But Lloyd said ‘it’s a killer idea to sign up these poor individuals, make them victims. If it could pull it off. I want to rape the shelters.’ And then Strong said, ‘ha ha, not kidding. And then Lloyd said ‘me either. Let’s ef ’em up,'” Oz relayed.
Vice President J.D. Vance (C) appears onstage as Deputy Administrator & Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Brandt (L) holds up a poster depicting a text conversation with Cory Lloyd, convicted of Affordable Care Act fraud, as Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz (R), speaks during a news conference on fraud at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus on September 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. Vance announced a federal crackdown on Affordable Care Act fraud, removing over 750,000 allegedly ineligible enrollments and banning hundreds of suspect brokers to save taxpayers an estimated $2.2 billion. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The pair were both convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to the DOJ. Strong was also convicted of two counts of money laundering. Both were sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $180.6 million in restitution, according to the DOJ announcement.
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Fox News Digital contacted the DOJ and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for further comment.