Fraudsters using stolen Social Security numbers and dead people’s identities have collected millions from Medicaid and food stamps, a watchdog revealed in a new report first shared with the Daily Signal. In one case, a Social Security number was tied to 15 employers across 14 states in a single three-month window, according to the report by the Foundation for Government Accountability. There is currently no federal requirement for states to verify who someone is before they enroll in Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, the foundation notes. The report was titled “Stolen Identities: The Welfare Fraud Nobody’s Talking About.” “Requiring identity verification for welfare applicants at the federal level would save an estimated $29 billion over the 10-year budget window,” the report contends. “Prior to enrollment, state agencies should not only ensure that the claimed identity is eligible for the program, but that the person seeking enrollment is who they say they are.” FakeStolenIdentitiesWelfarePrograms_ResearchPaper_DRAFTDownload The FGA used Government Accountability Office findings and state-level data to document the proliferation of identity fraud in welfare programs. “The solution here is almost too simple: We require people to show an ID to get a library card, but states aren’t required to verify who you are before putting you on a welfare program that costs taxpayers more than $1 trillion a year. Fraudsters know this, and they are exploiting it every single day,” Michael Greibrok, senior research fellow at the FGA, told the Daily Signal in a statement. Further, almost 24 million Americans have their identity stolen each year, and fraudsters are using those stolen identities to enroll in welfare programs. “The food stamp program is also rife with identity fraud. A recent review of roughly half of state food stamp programs revealed more than one million instances of duplicate enrollment, the enrollment of a deceased individual, the use of dummy SSNs, and instances of no SSN found,” the report says. “These fraudulent enrollments led to estimated costs of more than $2.2 billion.” The report says food stamp spending tops $100 billion a year, but more than one in every $10 spent is in error, over $10 billion in a single year. A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson noted that current regulations for obtaining food stamps require mandatory verification of gross income, alien eligibility, utility expenses, medical expenses, Social Security numbers, residency, identity, disability, household composition, student status, legal obligation and actual child support payments, and status related to work requirement expectations. “The department stands ready to provide technical assistance to any policy Congress is contemplating, including identification verification,” the spokesperson told the Daily Signal, later adding, “Correct, the program has exceeded $100 billion per year, and erroneous payments have cost the American taxpayer roughly $10 billion, with the most recent data representing FY 2025 benefit payments.” The report contends that at a time when Medicaid is approaching almost $1 trillion in annual spending, about one in every five Medicaid dollars is spent improperly, costing taxpayers tens of billions each year. A spokesperson from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not respond to inquiries for this story. The state of Arkansas found more than 20,000 high-risk identities, which are Social Security numbers that predate the enrollee’s birth, don’t appear in public records, or are linked to multiple people, the report says. New Jersey found more than 18,000 Medicaid enrollees with fake or duplicate Social Security numbers. In addition to identity verification, the report also recommends that states regularly check enrollment lists against the Social Security Administration Death Master File and flag Social Security numbers appearing in multiple states simultaneously. It adds that the federal government should hold states accountable. The report says that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided some improvements. “The law pauses the Biden administration’s 2024 rule that prohibited states from verifying most Medicaid enrollees’ identities,” the report says. “It also requires states to check Social Security death records at least quarterly and submit SSNs of enrollees to the federal government monthly to help prevent deceased and duplicate enrollment.”