A new report from the Government Accountability Office provides another window into what happens when the government gives out "free money." GAO investigators found $100 million in fraud in the Department of Health and Human Service's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for just 2009.From the Associated Press:
[T]he program helped pay the electric bill of a woman who lives in a $2 million home in a wealthy Chicago suburb and drives a Mercedes, according to the yet-to-be released report obtained by The Associated Press...
HHS paid $3.9 million to 11,000 applicants who used the identities of dead people.
HHS paid $370,000 to 725 applicants who were in prison.
HHS paid $671,000 to about 1,100 people who made more than the maximum income to qualify for the program.
Illinois paid $840 toward energy bills for a U.S. Postal Service employee who fraudulently reported zero income even though she earned about $80,000 per year. "Times are tough and I needed the money," she told investigators.
New Jersey paid $3,200 to a nursing home on behalf of eight patients after the home's director applied for assistance. The patients' nursing home care was already paid by Medicaid.
Virginia provided three payments totaling $2,400 to three separate applicants at the same address, according to the report.
GAO employees in a sting operation also applied for benefits in Maryland and West Virginia, using counterfeit documents, fake addresses and fictitious companies. "All fraudulent claims were processed and the energy assistance payments were issued to our bogus landlords and company," according to the report.