Medicaid Fraud Recovery Rate Near Zero: House Oversight Chair Warns of Impossibility

House Oversight Committee chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., warned Wednesday that the federal government has little chance of recovering fraudulent Medicaid payments once they are distributed.

He emphasized that efforts must focus on preventing money from leaving the Treasury rather than attempting recovery after the fact. “You’ve got to stop the money before it goes out the door,” Comer stated. “Because once it goes out the door, the success rate that the federal government has at clawing back fraudulent payments is about zero.”

Comer defended the Trump administration’s decision to halt Medicaid payments to states including California and Minnesota despite Democratic criticism. “Trump has rightfully put a stop on a lot of Medicaid payments to states like Minnesota and California,” he said.

According to Comer, much of stolen funds quickly escapes government control. “We’ll never claw that money back, especially with so much of it being converted to crypto and so much going to foreign countries,” he added.

Calling Medicaid fraud a coordinated scheme, Comer noted: “This is a scheme by a lot of people to defraud the government, and finally we’ve got an administration that’s doing something about it.”

The Kentucky Republican stated the House Oversight Committee is advancing fraud prevention legislation because preventing improper payments proves far more effective than post-fact recovery. “The Democrats are screaming bloody murder” as bills move through Congress, Comer said. But he reiterated: “You’ve got to stop the money before it goes out the door.”