WASHINGTON, D.C. – For years, Democrats fought to ensure taxpayer subsidies went to illegal immigrants and fraudsters, rather than the vulnerable for whom the resources were originally intended. The One, Big, Beautiful, Bill (OBBB) prevents taxpayer benefits from going to fraudsters and illegal immigrants by requiring a Social Security number for individuals claiming refundable tax credits, ends illegal immigrant eligibility for Obamacare subsidies and Medicare, and establishes new fees on remittance payments sent out of the United States. It also curtails tax credits for bad actors seeking to defraud Obamacare’s open-ended subsidy scheme. 

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) said:

“Ending rampant fraud and waste in government, while restoring order to the border crisis were some of the important reasons the American people sent President Trump back to Washington – and now we are delivering. Thanks to The One, Big, Beautiful Bill, we are ending the flow of taxpayer subsidies to fraudsters gaming the system as well as millions of illegal immigrants let in under Democrats’ misgovernance.

“Washington Democrats love to pretend government spending is never fraudulent, and that illegal immigrants are entitled to special tax benefits. That’s why they refused to scrutinize spending throughout the Biden Administration. And that’s why they fought harder to preserve special taxpayer subsidies for illegals than they did to help American taxpayers, tipped and hourly overtime workers, and seniors. We aren’t just stopping illegal immigration at the border, we are eliminating the financial incentives from the government for people to break the law to enter the country.”

Illegal Immigrants Will No Longer Be Able to Pocket Taxpayer-Funded Benefits Meant for American Citizens:

• The bill shuts off access to billions of dollars of Obamacare premium tax credits and Medicare benefits for illegal immigrants, whose immigration status was expanded and abused in recent years by the Biden-Harris Administration – allowing them to qualify for health care benefits funded by working Americans.
  
• During his administration, President Biden took over 600 immigration-related executive actions that sanctioned the largest influx of illegal immigrants in U.S. history. Over that time, the Biden-Harris Administration admitted and protected millions of illegal immigrants, while abusing immigration statuses to claim them as “lawfully present” in the U.S., making them eligible for benefits funded by American taxpayers, such as Obamacare and Medicare benefits.
  
• The policies in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill deliver on President Trump’s executive order issued in February.

Fighting Against Taxpayer Benefits Going to Fraudsters: The Paragon Health Institute goes into greater detail on fraud, noting that “The OBBB enacts some of the most substantial health policy reforms ever, largely by reversing reckless Biden administration policies. The legislation will reduce waste, fraud, and corporate welfare in Medicaid and in the Obamacare exchanges while returning those programs to their original mission: helping the poor and vulnerable.”

• The Bill Ensures that 3.1 Million Improper Obamacare Exchange Enrollees Have to Verify Their Eligibility: “We estimate that there are 6.4 million ineligible exchange enrollees in part because of Biden administration policies that prioritized enrollment over eligibility verification. The OBBB would require exchanges to verify eligibility for new enrollees as well as re-enrollees and would limit the amount of advanced subsidies people could claim without penalty, if they misreported their income. CBO projects that these commonsense program integrity measures would result in coverage loss of people who are not eligible for the program.”
  
• The Ways and Means Committee noted in June that thanks to The One, Big, Beautiful Bill, working families will no longer be forced to foot the bill for fraudsters by clamping down on Democrats’ reckless approach to Obamacare subsidies that has increased the cost of health care for all. Rather than address the root causes of price increases, years ofDemocrats’ inflationary spending and enrollment-at-any-cost rulemaking shoveled more taxpayer dollars into Obamacare premium tax credits and fueled widespread fraud.

Paragon also highlights that the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimates of coverage loss are likely inflated:

“Most notably, CBO projected coverage loss from eliminating the individual mandate tax penalty under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) between 10 and 20 times what actually resulted. It is also important to recognize that CBO has not properly accounted for the more than 10 million ineligible enrollees in Medicaid expansion and the ACA exchanges.

“As the OBBB takes effect, we must keep in mind that verifying eligibility and eliminating fraud doesn’t mean that those who lose coverage have no options. Millions will have access to subsidized exchange plans or employer coverage. In fact, of those leaving Medicaid, some 1.6 million people will opt-out of these alternatives, indicating the low value they place on coverage. Efforts in the OBBB to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid and Obamacare exchanges move toward properly restoring these programs for the truly vulnerable.”