Obamacare is the gift (that you didn’t want) that keeps on giving.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act has seen premiums and deductibles soar in recent years, enrollment has fallen, Democrats are constantly asking for more money to subsidize it, and plans often have narrow networks and high out-of-pocket risk. Other than that, it’s been great.

Turns out it’s also yet another government program that fraudsters have targeted, but Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that his Fraud Task Force is cracking down on the scams and taking over 750,000 suspected cheaters off the rolls.

The VP, appearing alongside the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, at a news conference, alleged that many of these enrollees are actually ghosts:

Some of these more than 760,000 people are so-called phantom enrollees who don’t exist, while others may have been enrolled without their knowledge, Oz said.

The Trump administration will also suspend brokers and agents involved in improperly signing up enrollees and place a six-month moratorium on new brokers and agents, he added. The Biden administration in 2024 also suspended hundreds of brokers and agents for suspected fraud, which ramped up after federal subsidies were made more generous in 2021.

Another 419,000 people will be subject to additional verification, including making sure they meet the income thresholds and are legal residents.

It seems like you can barely do anything without providing a Social Security number these days — but it appears you don’t need one to get Obamacare handouts:

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Oz added that an unusually high percentage of enrollees — 35 percent — have never even 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.

Oz highlighted one fraudster in particular:

He then detailed the case of convicted fraudster Cory Lloyd, who he said has "a very punchable face."

Lloyd and his partner, Stephen Strong, preyed on vulnerable consumers to enroll them in Obamacare in a scheme to collect commission payments from insurance companies, according a February announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

"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.

Both these lovely fellows were convicted on a variety of charges and sentenced to 20 years in the slammer. Adios. 


The Trump administration has uncovered an astonishing amount of graft since the president stepped back into the Oval Office in January 2025. We can now add potentially $2.2 billion more to the tally.