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Vice President touts anti‑fraud crackdown, cites investigations into medical billing and visa misuse
Summary
The Vice President used a Milwaukee appearance to describe an administration effort to curb fraud across Medicare programs, visa sponsorships and prenatal services, saying enforcement actions and Department of Labor subpoenas have recovered funds and disrupted alleged scams. He attributed specific dollar figures to administration estimates.
The Vice President told a Milwaukee crowd he is leading a national effort to stop fraud that he said diverts taxpayer funds from people who need services. He credited CMS staff and named task‑force members Kim Brandt and Scott Brady for work he said has blocked improper payments.
Why it matters: The administration framed enforcement as a way to preserve programs such as Medicare durable medical equipment (hospital beds, oxygen) and prenatal care for at‑risk mothers. The Vice President described several targeted efforts — from auditing durable medical equipment providers to Department of Labor subpoenas into alleged H‑1B program abuse — as central to saving federal funds and ensuring services reach eligible beneficiaries.
The Vice President said his team now requires confirmation that equipment is actually delivered before paying claims for durable medical equipment, a change he said has kept "billions" out of the hands of fraudsters. He described the scale of alleged billing for allografts (skin grafts), saying federal payments rose from "under $1 billion" in 2019–2021 to about $15 billion in 2025 and that the administration estimated the total would have reached $25 billion in 2026 absent enforcement; he attributed those figures to his office.
He also announced what he described as a broader enforcement posture: "the Federal Department of Labor has started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the H‑1B Visa program," he said. The Vice President framed that work as protecting U.S. wages and preventing companies from using the visa program to undercut American workers.
On prenatal care, the Vice President said fraud had forced scaling back local programs and used an anecdote about a woman in the audience to characterize improper benefit use: "There were young mothers in Wisconsin who did not get access to the prenatal care that they needed," he said, adding that fraud diverted funds meant for those services.
All dollar amounts and program totals cited in this article reflect the Vice President's statements during his remarks; corresponding agency data or independent confirmations were not produced in the event. The Vice President thanked CMS leadership and his fraud task force and urged continued congressional support for enforcement measures.
The Vice President closed by asking the audience to back his preferred congressional candidates and said fighting fraud is central to preserving services for seniors and families.
