Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., slammed what he called "rampant, systemic fraud" in the Affordable Care Act, telling Newsmax on Thursday a new bill he introduced aims to stop billions in improper subsidies that he argued have flowed unchecked to insurers for years.
On "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Marshall pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office investigation that used test applicants to probe the federal exchange. The GAO reported that 100% of its fake identities were approved for subsidized coverage in late 2024, and 18 of 20 remained enrolled in 2025.
Investigators also found cases in which a single Social Security number supported more than 125 policies, amounting to the equivalent of 71 years of free coverage, and identified 58,000 deceased individuals who retained benefits for months.
Marshall said the findings align with what he believes is a far larger problem inside the ACA's subsidy system.
"Obamacare is now swollen to $150 billion a year going to big insurance companies," he said. "We think within there is $25 [billion] to $35 billion of fraud."
He said a leading indicator is the share of enrollees who never use the insurance they receive.
"A third of the people on Obamacare have never filed a claim," he said. "Does that make sense? We think most of these people are ghosts. They're phantoms. They don't really exist, or they don't know they're in Obamacare."
Marshall said the system's design all but guarantees waste.
"The bigger the price tag, the faster the dollars are going out, the more fraud there's going to be," he said.
He said his ACA Marketplace Integrity Act, introduced Thursday, would create basic guardrails the program currently lacks. One requirement would mandate that every enrollee pay at least $5 a month toward their premium.
Marshall argued that even a small out-of-pocket charge would expose fraudulent accounts because legitimate customers would question withdrawals they did not authorize.
He said Democrats have refused to support the proposal.
"Because of that, I can't get one Democrat to join the bill," Marshall said. "I'm not sure they're really serious."
Marshall added that federal officials must stop "throwing more money out the window" and finally implement verification measures to ensure that subsidies go only to real enrollees.
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