Case Study: Arizona's PUA saves billions and reduces fraudulent claims with ID.me

How a Public-Private Partnership Provided Benefits to Eligible Individuals and Saved Billions for One State

The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) faced the immense challenge of managing a historic spike in unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency needed to quickly distribute Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) to eligible self-employed and gig workers while simultaneously combating a surge in fraudulent claims that threatened to waste taxpayer funds. To address this, they partnered with the digital identity verification vendor ID.me.

By implementing ID.me's identity verification tool, the Arizona DES was able to securely confirm the identities of applicants. This solution proved extremely effective, leading to a dramatic 98.8% decrease in new claims filed over a five-week period. ID.me's involvement was instrumental in this effort, resulting in the state estimating savings of upwards of $75 billion by preventing fraudulent payouts.

Arizona's PUA