States Have New Weapons to Combat Rampant SNAP, Medicaid, Fraud

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) has released a new Issue Brief and State Model Policy to help state lawmakers strengthen their SNAP oversight and work more effectively with the federal government to root out fraud, waste, and abuse and preserve SNAP benefits for the truly needy. This comes on the heels of AFPI’s release earlier this week of a toolkit to combat fraud at the state level in state Medicaid and other public assistance programs.

In the final months of 2025, and the beginning of 2026, massive amounts of Medicaid, Medicare, and Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) fraud made headlines across multiple states.

Researchers and government officials estimate billions of dollars in safety net fraud—a massive abuse of taxpayer dollars, and a failure to protect vulnerable Americans and families who truly need financial assistance.

AFPI’s anti-fraud package includes:

• Issue Brief: “States Can Reduce Fraud in SNAP by Sharing Data”

• State Model Policy: “State Policymakers Can Reduce Fraud & Improve SNAP Through Data Sharing”

• Research Report: “Protecting the American Dream: Restoring Accountability and Combating Fraud in Safety Net Programs”

AFPI has long championed policy reforms to federal assistance programs that are administered by state and local governments. By improving transparency and restoring accountability of taxpayer dollars in our federal and state assistance programs, trust may be restored once again.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

Kip Tom, Vice Chair of Rural Policy is available for comment on how SNAP data sharing is the key to stamping out SNAP fraud. Click here to schedule an interview.