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The vendors getting rich from putting administrative burdens on the poor

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Reposted by Luke Farrell

John Humphrey @johnhumphrey.com · 05/03/2026

Awesome interview with Luke Farrell @lukef.bsky.social on the Complex Systems podcast. "Understanding government procurement" How do we get @patio11 in here? www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/und...

complexsystemspodcast.com

Understanding government procurement, with Luke Farrell

The high cost of "standard" government software

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Luke Farrell @lukef.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Worth remembering that current Republican Senator Rick Scott oversaw the largest Medicaid fraud in history, at the time, as the CEO of the largest for-profit hospital system in America.

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Luke Farrell @lukef.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

All my homies hate a price gouging data broker preying on America’s safety net!

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You can read the full letter from @warren.senate.gov @wyden.senate.gov @sanders.senate.gov here: www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

warren.senate.gov

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Glad to be quoted in the letter. We'll see if/how Equifax complies with the requests like the one "for each state contract, please provide estimated per-query costs for 2026" which would be a big deal for state governments.

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This Equifax takedown letter from Senators Warren, Wyden, and Sanders is encouraging, but it's insane we need Senators to demand public price transparency from a contractor that works for the public

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I’m glad there is broad political consensus that this is a problem. I have some ideas on how we can actually fix it through antitrust enforcement, growing state capacity to build, and simplifying programs to protect them from capture. 👇 lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...

lpeproject.org

As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.

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I was at USDS, which became DOGE, and during the transition I urged them to focus on the vast majority of waste fraud and abuse which occurs in gov contracting. They nodded excitedly and then invaded up the US Institute for Peace instead.

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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Deloitte is a $74B cancer on American government is an accurate diagnosis, but MAGA is constitutionally incapable of solving this problem. Government inefficiency, privatization, and grift *is* their political project.

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Reposted by Luke Farrell

The week in review: Edie Conekin-Tooze on hidden foster care as neoliberal family governance, an open letter from seventy-two UMN law faculty, and @lukef.bsky.social on the means-testing industrial complex. Plus, as always, the best of LPE from around the web 🧵👇

lpeproject.org

Weekly Roundup: Jan 30

Edie Conekin-Tooze on hidden foster care as neoliberal family governance, an open letter from seventy-two UMN law faculty, and Luke Farrell on the means-testing industrial complex. Plus…

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Reposted by Luke Farrell

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

New at Can We Still Govern: Here is one thing I wish more people understood about government. There is a lot of rent-seeking by private vendors in our social safety net. Trump's policies will make this worse. @lukef.bsky.social breaks it down. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-means-...

donmoynihan.substack.com

The vendors getting rich from putting administrative burdens on the poor

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Reposted by Luke Farrell

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Important thread: for a long time I have been waiting to see a clear critique of vendor influence over the safety net space. This maps out the political economy of vendor capture of safety net systems.

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but love to dunk on bad contractors (also we are about to see this same thing play out in the other 55 states in territories this year because of new federal work requirements)

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In the piece I argue that we can Enforce, Build, and Simplify our way out of this Means-Testing Industrial Complex and stop sacrificing our public programs to poorly performing contractors.

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The story is the same for Deloitte's domination of eligibility systems that determine who gets Medicaid coverage and who does not. With over $6B in contracts across 25 states, new work requirements included in OBBBA are an enormous opportunity to prey on bureaucratic complexity and profit.

"A map of the United States titled 'Deloitte Plays Vital Role in State Medicaid Systems.' The map uses circles to show that Deloitte has contracts in 25 states, worth at least $6 billion and covering 53 million enrollees. Circle size represents Medicaid enrollment (1M, 4M, and 10M), while circle color represents contract value: purple for under $100M, blue for $100M-$500M, and black for over $500M. Major contracts over $500M are visible in states like California, Texas, and Florida. Source: KFF Health News reporting."

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This Means-Testing Industrial Complex is epitomized by Equifax's domination of income verification where the government has backed itself into a corner. OBBBA requires more complex and frequent verifications which will rely on one dominate private company that is mercilessly hiking prices.

Line graph titled 'Equifax's prices quickly tripled in Colorado' showing the cost per data match from 2016 to 2025. The price starts at $5.53 in 2016, remains fairly flat until 2022, and then spikes sharply to $15 by 2025. Source: Colorado Dept. of Human Services.

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Corporations are extracting billions from America’s safety net and their payday is about to be supercharged by new rules. I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it. @lpeblog.bsky.social lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...

lpeproject.org

As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.

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I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing and happy to chat about the proposals I lay out any time :)

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Eternally grateful for my USDS colleagues that drove around the country in a van with me for the most exhausting and fulfilling year of my life ❤️

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The CBO estimates that 5M people will lose their Medicaid as work requirements take effect. States must build in-house tech capacity now to protect their enrollees through the coming crisis and beyond. The challenge ahead is enormous and states need the capacity to meet the moment.

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Our bet paid off - across red and blue states representing over 40% of the nation's Medicaid population, we doubled automatic renewal rates and halved the number of people losing coverage for procedural and paperwork reasons. Quietly across the country, millions of people kept their health care.

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We set out to tackle this problem head on by showing up in communities across the country and automating Medicaid renewals wherever we could. We made a big bet that directly providing technical capacity to state governments in a crisis could move the needle.

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After the pandemic emergency ended in 2023, millions were at risk of losing their healthcare not because they were ineligible, but because of infuriating paperwork and broken systems. Today, work requirements threaten to make the situation even worse for millions of Americans.

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Lessons from Pandemic Era Medicaid Automation for Work Requirements

Today on Can We Still Govern, I got to share new research on how my team at USDS drove around the country in a van to protect Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans after the pandemic - and share some lessons learned for the coming crisis. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-a-van-...

donmoynihan.substack.com

Small tech capacity investments offer big returns

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Reposted by Luke Farrell

Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Full credit here to the incredible USDS team @lukef.bsky.social that worked closely with states to ensure so many Medicaid eligible low-income families and children didn't lose their health insurance coverage. Automation is a tool. Done well, it can work wonders.

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Also, if this continues we’re cooked 👇We can and must build alternatives that don’t rely on private data brokers.

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Proud to have been quoted alongside excellent reporting from Sarah Kliff, @sangerkatz.bsky.social, and @asmaaelk.bsky.social

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The government is basically transferring taxpayer dollars from low-income children's healthcare to a billion dollar data broker. As millions of people face losing their health coverage because of Republican’s new red tape, Equifax is extracting millions from states to verify employment.

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