Crapo, Brady Request Information on Efforts to Prevent Fraud in Tax Credit Program

Washington, D.C.--Top Republicans on the Senate and House tax panels are calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look into whether states and federal agencies are taking proper steps to identify and prevent fraud and improper payments in paying out tax credits for health coverage, called “premium tax credits” or PTCs.

The Members call on GAO to determine how the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can “establish an effective means to estimate improper payments.”

The letter, sent by U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. House Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-Texas), follows a worrisome uptick in fraud in federal spending. Experts find that up to $400 billion may have been lost to international fraud rings from the unemployment insurance program. And Democrats’ new child tax credit that removes work requirements may prove irresistible to fraudsters.

Background: The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) increased the value of the Obamacare PTCs, allowing individuals earning over 400 percent of the federal poverty level to accept the credits for the first time. As part of their reckless tax-and-spending spree, Democrats are seeking to make this expansion permanent.

Concerns have been raised over the susceptibility of the PTC program to fraud and improper payments, and GAO has issued PTC program integrity reviews and recommendations in the past. Crapo and Brady are pressing for additional program oversight to help determine what further controls are required to help identify and prevent fraud and improper payments.

Read the letter here.