Biden Admin Shut Down Anti-Fraud Guards on Medicare & Medicaid [WATCH]

White House anti-fraud task force Vice Chair Andrew Ferguson said federal fraud protection systems were turned off during the Biden administration and outlined ongoing efforts to assess the scope of the issue and restore safeguards across agencies.

Ferguson made the remarks during an exchange with Kayleigh McEnany, who asked about the decision to disable fraud protections.

“You said that the Biden administration turned off the fraud protections. Why would your predecessors do that?” McEnany asked.

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Ferguson responded that explanations provided at the time referenced pandemic-related concerns but said the systems remained inactive beyond that period.

“You’re going to have to ask them. The excuse that I often heard at the beginning was that they turned it off because of covid, and they didn’t want people in covid Not to get money that they were entitled to, but they just kept it off,” Ferguson said.

He said one of the task force’s first steps has been to require agencies to document what occurred during that period and what actions have been taken since.

“And so one of the first tasks that all of the agency members of the task force have been given by me is that they have to write a report that is going to explain what the advised administration did for four years to perpetuate fraud and what we’ve done immediately to turn all those systems back on,” Ferguson said.

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Ferguson said the task force is focused on determining the full scope of the situation, including identifying responsible parties and evaluating how widespread the issue became.

“And that’s one of the first things we’re trying to get a handle on is How bad did it get? Why did it get that way? Who is responsible for that and what have we done to at least turn those systems back on?” he said.

He also outlined the need for additional measures beyond restoring prior safeguards, emphasizing the development of automated systems to detect and prevent fraud before payments are issued.

“But then there’s a lot more to do. A lot of these agencies need to develop technological solutions to automate fraud preventions with the right type of data. A lot of our fraud assessments can be made automatically. You don’t necessarily need a human sort of checking every individual thing, you can create automated systems that can flag potential fraudulent payments,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson explained that preventing fraud at the point of payment is more effective than attempting to recover funds after they have been distributed.

“And that’s the way you really stop the fraud. It’s not just prosecutions, although those are incredibly important. There aren’t enough prosecutors in America to recover all the fraudulently taken money,” he said.

He added that the focus of the task force includes strengthening internal controls within agencies to prevent improper payments from being issued.

“The way to really stop the fraud, the way to really protect the American taxpayer is to keep it in the agency, to prevent it from going out the door. And that’s what we’re going to help the agencies do, is build up better systems, automatic systems, to prevent fraud, to detect fraud, and to work with the Department of Justice to go after the people who do get the money through fraud,” Ferguson said.

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