Trump asks Congress for mandatory prison sentences for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security fraud

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday asked the U.S. Congress to approve a new law imposing mandatory prison sentences on all those convicted of fraud with the federal benefit programmes — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The proposal, published in a video posted on his Truth Social network, aims, according to Trump, to stop “the theft from the American people”, as Newsmax reports.

Under the president’s proposal, the first part of the law would impose mandatory minimum prison sentences on anyone who steals from federal benefit programmes, removing the option of a suspended sentence. “If you steal from the American people, you will go to prison, and for a long time,” Trump said in the video. “And the more you steal, the longer you will stay in prison.”

For repeat offenders, the sentences would be even harsher. “If you are a convicted fraudster caught stealing from the American people a second time, your sentence will be doubled,” the president said.

The proposal also affects state and local politicians: Trump asks that politicians who know about fraud and have the ability to stop it, but do not act, be held personally responsible for the losses of taxpayers’ money. “If a state or local politician knows about the fraud and has the ability to stop it, but does nothing, he can be held personally responsible for the full loss of American taxpayers’ money that he should have stopped and saved,” he said. The video gives no details on the concrete limits of the sentences or on the legal standard that would determine when an elected official “knew” or “could have stopped” the fraud.

The call comes as the Trump administration has stepped up federal efforts against benefit-programme fraud. As Newsmax writes, the Department of Justice announced in June that the 2026 national operation against health-care fraud resulted in charges against 455 defendants, including 90 doctors and other licensed health professionals, in fraud and opioid-abuse schemes with more than 6.5 billion dollars in false claims — cases that included fraud against Medicare and Medicaid. Also, between 21 August and 18 September, the Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. attorneys in 11 districts charged 17 defendants in cases with over 1.3 million dollars in intended losses from Social Security benefit programmes.

“This legislative proposal will make fraudsters think long and hard before continuing to steal from the American people, and will make corrupt politicians think long and hard before ignoring fraud that they can and must stop,” Trump said, closing the video with a warning: “So from now on, fraudsters, we are watching you.”