CMS reports 2.8 million Americans potentially enrolled in duplicate government health programs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday reported that a review of 2024 enrollment data found that 2.8 million Americans potentially committed fraud by enrolling in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in multiple states, or simultaneously enrolled in both Medicaid/CHIP and a subsidized Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchange plan.

The Trump administration's CMS has been looking to reform the department through investigating allegations of fraud, waste and abuse within government health programs, in order to reduce wasteful spending and streamline the agency.

The agency said it is already taking action to make sure the citizens are only enrolled in one of the programs. 

"[Health and Human Services] staff uncovered millions of Americans who were illegally or improperly enrolled in Medicaid and ACA plans," Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said in a statement. "Under the Trump Administration, we will no longer tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse at the expense of our most vulnerable citizens."

The CMS' review found that an average of 1.2 million Americans each month were enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP in two or more states in 2024 and an average of 1.6 million Americans were enrolled in both Medicaid/CHIP and a subsidized ACA plan each month. 

“The Biden Administration struggled to ensure that individuals were only enrolled in the single Medicaid or Exchange plan for which they were eligible, that ends today,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said. “CMS is restarting these important checks to follow federal law. We are going to work with states to identify individuals enrolled in multiple programs and fix the duplicate enrollment problem to save taxpayers billions of dollars, while minimizing inappropriate coverage loss."

The report comes after Congress passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill," which includes additional resources for the centers to identify duplicate coverage, and prevent the government from paying for the same service twice.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.