Trump is fighting Obamacare fraud. Democrats are defending the numbers

Democrats love double-talk. They claim to defend affordable healthcare while taxpayers finance fraudulent enrollments that harm the very consumers Obamacare was supposed to protect. Right on cue, they turned the Trump administration’s fraud crackdown into cruelty. Chuck Schumer claims the administration is kicking hundreds of thousands of people off their plans, while former Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls fraud enforcement a "false pretext" for stripping away coverage. Before Democrats declare 760,000 people victims of Republican cruelty, they should explain why taxpayers were financing policies that some consumers never requested, used or knew existed.

The Trump administration recently announced that CMS canceled approximately 315,000 unauthorized Obamacare enrollments covering more than 760,000 people and expected to recover approximately $2.2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies. An additional 419,000 enrollments are undergoing eligibility verification. Every taxpayer and every family struggling to afford health insurance should be alarmed. Instead, Rep. Richard Neal, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, accused Republicans of "[doubling] down to take [coverage] away entirely," warning that the crackdown would increase medical debt and healthcare costs without acknowledging the fraudulent enrollment or the $2.2 billion in subsidies the administration expects to recover.