It shouldn’t be too much to ask that taxpayer-funded social service programs benefit people who actually exist.

Apparently it is, as more than 1 million people enrolled in Obamacare plans lack Social Security numbers, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

As the New York Post reported, that’s “a glaring warning sign for fraud” across the Obamacare program, Kennedy said, blaming President Donald Trump’s predecessors for not maintaining proper guardrails in social safety net programs.

The guardrails are wonky in a few areas.

Last week, the Justice Department announced the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown yielded charges against 455 defendants, including 90 doctors and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes involving over $6.5 billion in false claims and significant patient harm, including death.

“Health care fraud steals from taxpayers, exploits vulnerable patients, and puts lives at risk,” Kennedy said.

And yet fraud crackdowns find millions to billions of taxpayer dollars wasted, at the state and national levels. Earlier this year U.S. Attorney Leah Foley announced an alleged SNAP fraud involving more than 100 stolen identities used to obtain over $1 million in SNAP and Public Unemployment Assistance benefits.

That’s our money. It should go where it needs to, and not in the pockets of crooks.

Obamacare coverage is back in the news as millions are dropping the health coverage in the wake of subsidies ending. As the New York Times reported, initial sign-ups had already fallen by about 1.2 million people. But insurance companies, state officials and industry analysts are reporting that many more have lost Obamacare coverage now that people are facing long-term higher costs.

Adding insult to injury: Oz claimed that “rogue agents and other bad actors” have been enrolling “unsuspecting Americans in health plans they never signed up for,” and using fake identities to collect fees from insurance companies for “selling plans they never legitimately sold.”

Typically, they select plans that don’t have premiums so that people are unaware that they’ve been enrolled, according to the health bosses.

“Some of these agents refuse to follow basic rules, like providing their clients’ social security numbers. That, my friends, is a huge red flag,” Oz claimed.

How many have gotten away with it, and for how long? Taxpayers assume that the money they send to Washington each year goes to programs and people who legitimately need it.

Government should make the lives of Americans better and take steps to ensure that fraud doesn’t erode their trust, and the impact of their taxes.

“Why are we paying people we don’t know if they actually exist?” Kennedy asked.

Because no one, apparently, was watching the till.

“If you’re a fraudster, here’s our advice to you: do not walk away from us, run, because we are going to find you,” Oz added.

Keep it up.

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