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Massachusetts is letting people who steal public benefits keep nearly every dollar they take. A new outside review and the state auditor’s report make that painfully clear. If you care about taxpayer money or basic accountability, what’s happening in Boston is not a small mistake — it’s a policy failure.
What the reports found
Two recent reports paint the same bad picture. The state auditor’s Bureau of Special Investigations found about $10.6 million in public-benefits fraud in the first half of the year. Most of that came from MassHealth and SNAP. An outside review by LexisNexis’s Risk Solutions Government Group concluded Massachusetts only recovers about 2.7% of stolen benefits. That means fraudsters are keeping roughly 97 cents of every dollar they steal. Yes, you read that right.
Why recovery is so low
The reasons are boring and avoidable: too few investigators, old computer systems, and weak processes. The outside expert said the state has fewer than 10 frontline investigators. That is not a fraud-fighting team. It’s a suggestion box. Technology that can’t match records or share data leaves stolen money hiding in plain sight. When you combine low staffing with clunky systems, the result is predictable — taxpayers lose, cheats win.
Healey’s data excuse won’t cut it
Governor Maura Healey’s team says they’re protecting people’s privacy by refusing to share SNAP data with federal partners. They claim the federal government might hand information to immigration authorities. That sounds noble until you see the 2.7% recovery rate. Protecting privacy is fine. Protecting cheats is not. There are reasonable ways to share data with legal safeguards. Using ICE as an excuse to avoid accountability looks less like courage and more like a convenient dodge.
How to fix this and stop treating taxpayer money like Monopoly cash
Start by hiring investigators and upgrading fraud detection systems. Share necessary data with federal anti-fraud systems while putting real legal protections around it. Pursue prosecutions and civil clawbacks when fraud is proven. Publish clear recovery metrics so the public can stop guessing how well their money is guarded. If Massachusetts wants to be known for compassion, it should help the needy — not hand a taxpayer-funded allowance to professional fraudsters.
