Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency representatives are at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week examining payment and contracting systems of federal health agency.
Two senior agency veterans focused on policy and operations are working with DOGE to review the agency overseeing Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health insurance for about 1 in 4 Americans, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman.
“We are taking a thoughtful approach to see where there may be opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting the goals of President Trump,” Andrew G. Nixon, HHS’ director of communications, said via email.
DOGE representatives have been at the agency’s offices this week examining CMS’s technology systems and spending, focusing on signs of fraud or waste, the Wall Street Journal reported. DOGE is also examining the CMS’s organizational design and staffing.
In response to a repost of the WSJ report Wednesday on his social media site X, Musk tweeted, “Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening.”
DOGE, run by billionaire tech entrepreneur Musk, is working to scrutinize costs across the federal government, gaining access to systems at agencies such as the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The DOGE review comes as at least 20,000 federal employees have accepted a buyout offer President Donald Trump made to the entire federal workforce before Thursday’s deadline, a White House official said Tuesday.
CMS is among the world’s largest purchasers of health care with $1.5 trillion in outlays during fiscal 2024, according to the agency’s annual financial report.
CMS and its contractors process more than one billion Medicare claims each year, monitor health care quality through inspections at hospitals and nursing homes and provide states with matching funds for Medicaid, the federal-state health program that covers low income families.
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Medicare, the federal health program for adults 65 and over and the disabled, covers about 68 million people while Medicaid covers 73 million people.
Trump has tapped celebrity doctor and former Congressional candidate Mehmet Oz to lead CMS. The Senate has not yet confirmed Oz. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee advanced Robert F. Kennedy’s nomination to lead HHS, which oversees CMS. The Senate still must approve Kennedy’s nomination.