Combating Fraud: Managing Risks in Federally Funded, State-Administered Programs [Reissued with revisions on Aug. 7, 2026]

Filed 1w ago · Via GAO · The Buffoon Desk

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Mining by Moonlight

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Jack de Nijs for Anefo · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

GAO identified 20 federally funded, state-administered programs — including Medicaid and SNAP — that accounted for $1.1 trillion in federal obligations in fiscal 2025, nearly 90 percent of spending in this category.

Only five of the 20 programs had documented evidence of properly assessing fraud risks; the other 15 did not.

GAO cited specific fraud examples including a $4.3 million airport project with falsified permits, housing vouchers paid for vacant units, and a student aid scheme spanning over 1,200 people across 24 states, alongside an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion lost to fraud annually government-wide.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Three-quarters of these programs never bothered documenting their fraud risks, and the government still shrugs off a few hundred billion dollars in annual losses like it's a rounding error. Twenty-two open recommendations sitting on the shelf suggests the problem isn't finding the fraud — it's finding the will to act on what's already been found.

Source: Read the original at GAO → Scored: Mining by Moonlight · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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