Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
A lot of ink is being (justifiably) spilled over the Minnesota welfare fraud, in which Somali communities defrauded the Medicaid system out of at least $250 million, and as much as $18 billion. But this is only the biggest and most audacious case of government fraud that has cropped up in recent years.
For example, few people noticed the $1.3 billion Medicare fraud perpetrated by Philip Esformes, who was pardoned by Donald Trump during his first term in office. California was recently found to be suffering from an epidemic of fake community college applications that siphoned millions in educational funds from the state. The food stamp (SNAP) system is defrauded of hundreds of millions every year. Florida’s school voucher system reportedly has no idea where thirty thousand “students” are. Much of this fraud occurs at the state level, where billions of dollars are spent each year with minimal to no oversight.
Source: Noah Smith