Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, has turned his attention to the influential government agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid payments, scrutinizing financial systems to identify where funds are being allocated.
Musk's team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been stationed at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), gaining access to crucial payment and contracting systems, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the DOGE team has also accessed similar systems at the Treasury Department and has scheduled a meeting at the Labor Department. This is part of their mission to reduce federal spending and downsize the government. The team's activities have resulted in all staff at USAID being put on leave. Musk confirmed the news, stating on X, "Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening."
At the behest of President Donald Trump, Musk and his team are on a mission to overhaul the government. The CMS, a component of the Department of Health and Human Service, is a significant distributor of healthcare payments, disbursing approximately $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2024. With a workforce of around 6,710, it manages Medicare, the health coverage program for older and disabled Americans, and Medicaid, for lower-income individuals.
However, the DOGE team has not yet gained access to the database containing enrollees' personal data, and their access is 'read-only,' meaning they cannot alter the system. The payments issued by CMS are complex and diverse. Many Medicare payments are processed through private insurers, which receive payment from the federal government. Medicaid is jointly supervised by federal and state officials, with federal payments going directly to the states.
The federal government's healthcare fraud enforcement efforts are carried out by the Justice Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and CMS itself. Musk's group has stirred controversy, with many Democrats opposing the government cuts and the dismissal of federal workers. Unions have begun filing lawsuits in response.
Democrats have questioned Musk's oversight, but President Trump has assured that the SpaceX founder is only acting with his approval. He emphasized that his administration is preventing Musk, who holds billions in federal contracts, from interfering in any area where there could be a conflict of interest. "Elon will not do anything without our approval and we will give him the approval where appropriate," he stated in the Oval Office.
Trump further clarified that Musk "has access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good - if we agree with him. He is talented from the standpoint of management and cost and we put him in charge of seeing what he could do with certain groups and certain numbers."
Musk, serving as a 'special government employee,' has a government email address and office space in the White House complex. He is not receiving a paycheck, thus exempt from filing standard government disclosure forms. However, Trump did deny Musk's request to allow Baris Akis, a Turkish-born venture capitalist with a green card, to work for DOGE, citing U.S. law that generally prohibits noncitizens from working for the federal government.
Despite this, Trump has granted Musk considerable freedom in reducing government spending and the federal workforce. DOGE, though not a government department, is a small team within Trump's administration, operating from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located across the street from the White House.
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