Rep. Jim Jordan leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Dec. 10, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
All those companies help consumers sign up for Obamacare’s enhanced health insurance premiums that are at the heart of the committee’s fraud evaluations.
"Brokers have targeted individuals with deceptive advertisements and pressured enrollees to lie about their incomes to obtain Obamacare subsidies. Evidence suggests that many individuals do not even know they are signing up for health insurance or agreeing to switch plans," the committee said in a statement.
The committee has asked the companies to provide how many people they’ve helped sign up for the enhanced premium tax credits, the number of enrolled people who don’t make use of their benefits, internal communications dealing with fraud and abuse, and a list of employees dealing with anti-fraud efforts.
SENATE DEMS' OBAMACARE FIX FAILS AS SENATE LOOKS FOR OFF-RAMP FROM HEALTHCARE CLIFF
Seto Bagdoyan, Director of Audit Services, Forensic Audits and Investigative Service at the Government Accountability Office, testifies before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee in Washington, July 23, 2014. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
According to the GAO, as many as 29,000 Social Security numbers (SSNs) in 2023 and nearly 68,000 SSNs in 2024 used to receive more than one year's worth of insurance coverage with APTC in a single plan year.
Bagdoyan explained the extent of the fraud and the role brokers play in that picture isn’t well understood, but believes it has contributed to the program’s exorbitant costs.
"The unscrupulous ones will probably go out and run up the score like we think we are encountering through our analysis. [Fraud examples] include not only changes to the agent or broker of record, but also changes to the policies, new policies, and outright fraudulent policies. So that is part and parcel of the broken side," Bagdoyan said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The Judiciary Committee has requested a response from the letter recipients no later than Dec. 29.
Fox News Digital reached out to the recipients for comment.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-gop-probes-alleged-obamacare-broker-fraud-jordan-presses-major-insurers-answers