Greetings and hallucinations, or something. Today is Friday, Dec. 12, 2025
Today in History
2004: The US Supreme Court hands down its 5-4 decision in Bush vs. Gore.
1946: The United Nations accepts six Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr.
1787: Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the Constitution.
Birthdays — lots of them today: Actor Edward G Robinson, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Bob Barker, NYC Mayor Ed Koch, Connie Francis, Dionne Warwick, Buford “Walking Tall” Pusser, Terry Kirkman of the Association, Dicky Betts, and Grover Washington, Jr.
=-=-=-
I open with the thought that Bernie Madoff was a rank amateur compared to this stuff I’m going to write about today. A piker. And, I’ll ask a question you may want to seriously consider: Are the SNAP fraud cases we’re finding in the state of Minnesota part of the reasons Americans aren’t happy about the ACA subsidies?
Yeah, OK, I grant that seems a bit of a stretch, linking those two cases, at least on the surface. But perhaps it’s not. Think about it: What is the commonality? Both SNAP and the ACA are huge strokes of governmental largesse, with a history of huge amounts of financial fraud attached to them both.
As to the former, among the best right now at covering that story is Power Line’s Scott Johnson. Unsurprisingly, the Minnesota equivalent of Pravda, The Star Tribune — particularly, the Strib’s Jeff Meitrody — are, well, uncomfortable with that coverage. I urge you to go and read the work Scott’s been producing.
Here’s a taste of what’s going on:
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) goes deeper into this:
Not to hit the Somalis overly hard — I’m simply using this situation as one example (of many) of how this kind of fraud happens, and gets huge.
John Binder writes at Willem’s Substack:
More than 80% of households headed by Somali refugees in the state of Minnesota are on one or more forms of American taxpayer-funded welfare, new data published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals.
The data, based on 10 years of data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), shows drastic disparities between native-born American households and Somali households in Minnesota, where nearly 80,000 residents have Somali ancestry compared to zero who had Somali ancestry in 1990.
In particular, the data shows that 81 percent of Minnesota households headed by Somali refugees are on one or more forms of welfare, including 27 percent who are on cash welfare, 54 percent who are on food stamps, and 73 percent who are on Medicaid.
Compare this massive welfare use to native-born Americans residing in Minnesota, only 21 percent of whom are on one or more forms of welfare, including just 6 percent who are on cash welfare, 7 percent who are on food stamps, and 18 percent who are on Medicaid.
The breakdown of this is at Willem’s site, including his charts. That will get you started on the SNAP fraud. Keep in mind, that’s just one state. I won’t be shocked if Gov. Tim Walz takes this one on the chin. He certainly deserves it.
As to the latter, and much larger, ACA case, consider the recent investigation by the DOJ involving over $14.6 Billion (yes, you read that correctly) which was covered in press releases by the DOJ last June. Or, perhaps better, the Senate Finance Committee’s report at the start of this month:
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement on a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identifying several avenues of widespread fraud in Obamacare Marketplace plans, including large-scale failures that have allowed applicants using fake identities, stolen Social Security numbers and incorrect income estimates to receive Obamacare subsidies at taxpayers’ expense.
“The GAO’s findings further illustrate the brokenness of Obamacare,” said Crapo. “The temporary, enhanced COVID-era credits have exacerbated Obamacare’s structural failures, causing fraud to explode and leaving taxpayers to subsidize criminals and shady insurance brokers. Premiums and out-of-pocket costs are rising for all Americans, but as we look for ways to improve the health care system, this investigation serves as a stark reminder that we cannot simply throw good money after bad policy.”
As part of its investigation, GAO created fake identities and attempted to enroll them in Obamacare advance premium tax credits (PTCs), a taxpayer-funded subsidy for Obamacare recipients. All four of its fake applicants were approved in 2024 and 18 of 20 fake applicants in 2025 were receiving subsidies as of September.
The Obamacare Marketplace accepted some of these enrollees with falsified proof of income, Social Security numbers and citizenship status, and others were approved even when no documents were submitted.
Oh, it gets worse. MUCH worse:
In addition to successfully enrolling almost all its fake applicants in the subsidy program, the GAO found the program was at risk of the following forms of fraud:
- Identity theft: 66,000 Social Security numberswere enrolled in multiple plans in 2024.
- One Social Security number was enrolled in 125 different policies, totaling 71 years’ worth of credits, in 2023.
- $94 million in subsidies went to plans created with Social Security numbers belonging to a deceased individual.
- Unauthorized changes: In 2024, 160,000 applicationsfor PTCs were likely changed by insurance brokers without the authorization of the enrollee.
- In just eight months, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services received over 270,000 complaints from Americans who were enrolled or switched into plans they did not want.
- These changes allow brokers to charge fees they should not receive and can disrupt enrollees’ care.
- Credit overpayment:Nearly a third of PTCs paid in 2023 were not reconciled to enrollees’ income.
- Without this check, enrollees can receive larger subsidies by intentionally misrepresenting their income at the time of enrollment.
If you’d like a deeper dive, the full GAO report is here. Please note that nearly none of this detail is available in the legacy media. None. Gee, maybe there’s an issue there, ya think?
Related: The Real Source of Government Corruption
By now, the sharper among you (thank the good Lord my readership here is quite sharp, as a rule) will have picked up on the problem. Each and every time the government decides to hand out money for ostensibly charitable and worthy purposes, the fraud attached to those programs threatens to overwhelm the sometimes questionable good those programs provide. The ACA and SNAP programs are two such, of many.
Now of course, the so-called “fact checkers” question these reports, jumping in and desperately trying to defend what would seem to be their constituency. They’ll tell you that Republicans don’t like these programs because they’re selfish, that they have no charity, that they have no compassion, etc., etc., etc. Anyone daring to question such programs is:
- Racist, a Nazi, a Trump cultist;
- Maniacally, irredeemably evil;
- Drooling morons who are brainwashed by Fox News; or
- A greedy so-and-so who has no compassion.
The questions these critics dare not answer are: At what point does governmental largess become foolish and counter -productive? And, if Obamacare were affordable, why does it need subsidy? Lastly, Democrats complain about the rising cost of healthcare — is that a tacit admission that Obamacare was a total failure at its stated goal?
Leaving aside the validity of such supposed charity, the fraud alone should be enough in a sane world to end such nonsense. Then again, as Perk Carlson used to say, in a world that made sense, it would be men who ride sidesaddle. I mean, the numbers we’re talking about here, as I said at the opening, make Bernie Madoff look like a rank amateur.
But because it’s government, a few sacrificial sheep get offered and that ends it. There’s no change in the basic idea that government needs to be involved, with taxpayer money. We keep trying to run the same play in the apparent hope that the fraud won’t come up in public discourse. But eventually, it gets too large to hide.
The people pushing governmental involvement in supposed works of public welfare never seem to mention the likelihood of fraud attached to such programs. This is because, almost invariably, they’re the folks benefiting from such money being thrown around. “Kickbacks” is a nasty word, but I can’t think of a better one at the moment. How much of the billions in fraud under discussion ends up in the re-election coffers of Democrats?
Oh, and speaking of that, if this is all going on in just one state of 50, and it’s this bad, and the financial hit is this high, how bad is it across all 50 states? And it the ACA and the SNAP are so loaded with fraud, what do you suppose the chances of voter fraud are?
Wakey, wakey, policy shakey.
Comments are encouraged. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Honest journalism, honest opinion, and straight-up analysis. That’s what you support when you subscribe VIP-style to PJ Media. Use the code word FIGHT to save 60% off your bill. VIP memberships make a great Christmas gift, too.
