The issue , is that we have a different track record in the US with fraud and abuse with any social program that seems to drastically differ from countries doing it well . I don ' t believe this statement is based in fact , do you have any sources to back it up , I ' d be curious to read further but I can ' t find anything solid . This is a very popular talking point on many of the conservative news networks , but I just can ' t find any evidence that supports fraud at any level higher than every other country with social welfare programs . Additionally , what is the metric by which we are measuring this , what level of fraud is acceptable in social welfare programs that can literally save lives ? Is 1 % low enough ? 3 %, 5 %, 10 %? Where is the cutover where it goes from a valuable program that saves people from living in poverty to an unacceptable waste ?