News stories involving fraudulent government payments and the widespread misuse of tax dollars have become all too common. The latest scandal involves Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, two critical safety-net programs meant to serve society’s most vulnerable.
Government spending on applied behavior analysis therapy for children with autism has exploded in recent years. Unfortunately, federal investigations have revealed that this higher spending increasingly reflects rampant billing abuse by unscrupulous providers, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.
The numbers just don’t add up. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicaid and CHIP spending on applied behavior analysis therapy jumped from $2 billion in 2021 to over $10 billion by 2025. That’s more than a 400 percent increase, despite the fact that the number of children receiving an autism diagnosis only grew by 67 percent.
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