The Trump administration announced that the Office of Personnel Management identified roughly $500 million in fraud, waste and abuse involving federal health benefits programs. The agency is expanding audits, claims analysis and enrollment verification as it seeks to recover taxpayer money and prevent additional losses.

Health insurance carriers participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits programs reported preventing nearly $510 million in losses before or during payment. They also recovered another $21.9 million after claims had already been paid, according to OPM.

OPM Director Scott Kupor said the scale of the programs makes continued scrutiny essential. The agency oversees health insurance for approximately 8.9 million federal employees and retirees, with annual spending of about $80 billion.

"OPM runs health insurance for about 8.9 million retirees and federal employees, and we spend about $80 billion a year," Kupor told Fox News Digital. "The $500 million, a little more than 0.5%, is a good number, but certainly we have a long way to go here to root out more fraud, waste and abuse."

Kupor said OPM is conducting its own review of health insurance claims data for the first time. That work allows the agency to examine billing patterns across health plans and providers for signs of potential problems.

The analysis will focus on unusual prescribing habits, surgery rates and other anomalies that could indicate overuse, misuse or possible fraud. OPM plans to use the findings to determine whether providers should be removed from federal health programs.

Cases involving suspected criminal activity will be referred to the OPM Office of Inspector General and the Justice Department for additional investigation. The broader initiative is intended to combine prevention, recovery and enforcement.

The White House anti fraud task force, led by Vice President JD Vance, has reported uncovering $260.7 billion in fraud since President Donald Trump took office. It has also reported stopping $72 billion in fraud on an annualized basis.

Kupor leads the agency that oversees the federal workforce and administers major employment and benefits programs for millions of current and former federal workers. His work has also included an effort associated with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to modernize federal employee recordkeeping.

Fox News Digital reported last April that the federal government had begun using artificial intelligence for employee recordkeeping at scale. The effort focused on replacing a paper based system tied to a mine in Pennsylvania where federal records were stored and managed.

Musk expressed disbelief over the system and its dependence on physical infrastructure. "The speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move determines how many people can retire... And the elevator breaks down and then nobody can retire," Musk said last February. "Doesn't that sound crazy?"

Kupor said the mine now operates with a fully electronic system. He also reported that OPM processed 180,000 electronic online retirement applications during the past year, nearly double the production recorded in any previous year.

"This past year, we did 180,000 electronic online applications for retirement, which is just unprecedented," Kupor said. "That's almost double the production that we've had in any prior year. Electronic applications can get solved in less than half the time today that a paper one does."

Kupor said continued technological development could sharply reduce the time retirees wait for applications to be resolved. He described the existing experience as a process that could last six months, nine months or 12 months, while saying the agency could eventually reduce it to as little as 15 days.

Kupor’s experience with artificial intelligence has also placed him among the names reportedly under consideration to become the Trump administration’s AI czar. He said he had read those reports but had nothing further to add about the possibility.

Before joining OPM, Kupor worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse and joined Loudcloud in 1999. He later became the first employee hired by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz at their venture capital firm and chaired the National Venture Capital Association from May 2017 to May 2018.

Kupor said Trump’s assessment of artificial intelligence was "exactly 100% right," describing the technology as central to economic growth, national security and national sovereignty. He also emphasized the intellect and inventiveness of American entrepreneurs and the importance of conditions that allow innovation to continue.

Kupor did not rule out accepting the AI position if Trump offered it. He said he remains focused on his responsibilities as OPM director and serves "at the will of the president."