Elon Musk’s desire to slash and burn his way through government spending is now taking aim at Medicare and Medicaid, according to a report published Wednesday.
A Wall Street Journal headline announced, “DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud.” The story went on to say, “Representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS], where they have gotten access to key payment and contracting systems, according to people familiar with the matter.”
A social media user by the name of @cremieuxrecueil posted the article to X, writing, “The motherlode is now being tapped for the first, but not the last, time. This is where the real big savings are.”
The post prompted Musk to respond: “Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening.”
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The Journal wrote that CMS “is a highly politically and economically sensitive agency. It is the nerve center of much of the nation’s complex healthcare economy, with outlays of about $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2024, or about 22% of the federal total. With around 6,710 employees, it oversees Medicare, the health coverage program for older and disabled Americans and Medicaid, for lower-income enrollees, among other areas. Many veteran CMS staffers have worked there for decades.”
The article continued, “One of the people familiar with DOGE’s work at CMS said that, to their knowledge, Musk’s allies hadn’t yet been given access to databases that include identifiable personal health information of Medicare or Medicaid enrollees. DOGE also hadn’t yet accessed a sensitive accounting system called HIGLAS, or the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System, this person said.”
Neither Musk nor his Department of Government Efficiency have said what they have in mind for CMS, or whether they’ll be taking a look at another agency Republicans have promised not to touch, Social Security.