First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Treasury and the IRS proposed rules Wednesday to put the Working Families Tax Cuts reforms into effect — tightening verification and closing the loopholes that let ineligible people collect taxpayer-funded premium tax credits.
The Treasury Department and the IRS moved Wednesday to end taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies for people who are ineligible under federal law, issuing proposed regulations that put President Trump's Working Families Tax Cuts reforms to the Premium Tax Credit into effect. The premium tax credit is the refundable credit that helps eligible Americans buy coverage through the Obamacare exchanges — and the new rules are built to make sure it goes only to people who actually qualify.
Bessent said the proposed rules "close eligibility loopholes and ensure taxpayer-funded Premium Tax Credits are reserved for eligible Americans," part of an administration-wide crackdown on fraud and corruption. Under the rules, beginning in 2027 subsidies go only to Americans who qualify under federal law; eligibility is restricted to U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals and certain lawfully present noncitizens; and new verification criteria apply to advance credit payments.
IRS CEO Frank J. Bisignano said the enhanced verification is designed "to curb improper claims," and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz called the approach "shutting down waste and fraud before a single dollar leaves the building."
The rules follow last month's CMS cleanup, in which the administration moved to remove more than 760,000 unverified Obamacare enrollees from the exchanges — people officials said were fraudulently enrolled or did not exist — a step Vice President JD Vance said would save an estimated $2.2 billion.
A December 2025 report from the Government Accountability Office had already flagged the risk: investigators using fictitious applicants won subsidized coverage for almost all of their 24 fake enrollees.
The administration has also sent nearly 1 million Americans $500 apiece after officials said they had been overcharged for their Obamacare coverage under the Biden administration.
Supporters call the whole effort basic taxpayer accountability: public money for health care should go to eligible Americans, and nobody else — and with the verification rules, the fraud gets stopped before a single dollar leaves the building.
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