Around New England

Massachusetts State Auditor Uncovers $2.3 Million In Welfare Fraud

October 1, 2024

Massachusetts state Auditor Diana DiZoglio says investigators in her office found more than $2.3 million in welfare fraud in the state during one three-month period earlier this year.

The report, by the state auditor’s Bureau of Special Investigations, covers the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 (between April 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024). Most of the fraud cases involve the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as SNAP, and also known as food stamps.

The state bureau investigated 1,235 cases during the second quarter of 2024, identifying fraud identified in 176 of them, or about 14 percent.

The report showed that $1.9 million, or nearly 80 percent of the total, came from SNAP. Medicaid fraud amounted to $245,858. Some $138,081 came from cash assistance fraud under the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Massachusetts Department of Early Education & Care programs accounted for $19,263, while Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children saw $60,472 in fraudulent claims.

“When public benefits fraud takes place, it impacts the lives of everyday people across Massachusetts who rely on these programs and services to purchase food or access care,” DiZoglio said in a press release from her office. “That’s why the work of our BSI examiners is crucial to help ensure these programs and services are operating efficiently and reliably for everyone who needs them.”

While DiZoglio, a Democrat, frames the report as part of a broader initiative to tighten oversight and safeguard public resources, Republican leaders see the report as more evidence of governmental mismanagement under Democratic leadership of state government. (The current governor, Maura Healey, is a Democrat.) Republicans say the fraud statistics not only demonstrate specific cases of abuse but also reflect what Republicans argue is a pattern of fiscal irresponsibility and lack of accountability when it comes to public welfare programs.

The $2.3 million in fraud from the most recent quarter is just a small portion of the broader issue, in their view.

Fraud in Massachusetts welfare programs amounted to more than $12.3 million in fiscal year 2023 and $13.5 million in fiscal year 2022, according to a press release from the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Massachusetts GOP chairman Amy Carnevale expressed her frustration with the state auditor’s latest findings of fraud, saying that Bay Staters should be angry about what DiZoglio’s office found.

“$2.3 million in taxpayer money fraudulently spent in just one quarter is unacceptable,” Carnevale said in the MassGOP’s latest press release on the matter. “The lack of accountability in handling taxpayer dollars is egregious. Residents should be outraged that their money is being so poorly managed, with little oversight of these programs.”

Carnevale said this report reflects years of fiscal irresponsibility from Democrats in Massachusetts.

“To Democrats, it seems this is simply the cost of doing business,” Carnevale said in the written statement. “They must show greater respect for residents’ hard-earned money, and stronger oversight is needed to ensure responsible spending.”

Her remarks reflect concerns among Republicans that Democratic leadership in the state is more focused on expanding public assistance programs than ensuring they are responsibly managed.

“The Democratic supermajority has repeatedly proven they are incapable of managing taxpayer dollars,” she added. “When they overspend and mismanage funds, they simply ask for more. We must elect more Republicans to the Massachusetts legislature to clean up the mess the Democratic supermajority has created in the Commonwealth.”

A press spokesman for Governor Healey could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Democrats in Massachusetts typically do not comment on reports of fraud issued by the state auditor’s office.

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