“Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening,” said Elon Musk in an X repost of a screenshot from The Wall Street Journal’s report about Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts concerning Medicare and Medicaid.
He did not offer any further explanation of the claim in the post.
Musk – the billionaire known for owning X and as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and also for regularly being at the top of the wealthiest people in the world list – was tasked by President Donald Trump to help cut government spending with DOGE. In the weeks since Trump was inaugurated, the new department has been busy making headlines.
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government – especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in an interview this week with Anderson Cooper. However, said some of what Musk has been doing is “illegal and unconstitutional.”
While many this week were focused on DOGE’s role in the move to put most U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on administrative leave, the WSJ focused on the team’s work at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. There, DOGE staffers have been given access to “key payment and contracting systems,” according to people familiar with the matter cited by the WSJ.
“They are looking at the systems’ technology as well as the spending that flows through them, with a focus on pinpointing what they consider fraud or waste,” said the report. “DOGE representatives are also examining the agency’s organizational design and how it is staffed, the people added.”
Although the names of at least six DOGE employees have been reported by multiple outlets, Musk reportedly snapped at an X post with their names, told the poster they committed a crime and suspended the account. This week, another report revealed that the team was told not to use the social media for work app Slack in an effort to make sure the team is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Bloomberg also reported that the DOGE team had “been on-site at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to mine key systems for examples of what they consider fraud or waste, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
Along with other efforts aimed at ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, Bloomberg reported that the team has been “working to cancel diversity, equity and inclusion-focused contracts at CMS and more broadly across the Department of Health and Human Services, the person said, including with organizations like Deloitte.”
In a Thursday X post, the DOGE account said that it terminated 78 contracts “for convenience across DEI, Non-Performing, Media, and Consulting categories,” to a tune of $110 million in savings.
WSJ’s report indicates that the DOGE team was given “read-only” access to CMS data and has not been able to access personal health information of the millions enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid. According to Reuters, CMS said that it was working with DOGE to meet objectives of the new Trump administration.
“CMS has two senior Agency veterans – one focused on policy and one focused on operations – who are leading the collaboration with DOGE, including ensuring appropriate access to CMS systems and technology,” the agency said in a statement cited by Reuters. It also said that the agency is “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.”
Reuters noted that CMS “regularly deals with improper payments that represent fraud or abuse but might also be due to a state, contractor, or provider missing an administrative step.” DOGE representatives have reportedly been looking at the technology that the systems run on and spending in an effort to identify fraud or waste.
“When asked about DOGE accessing CMS payment and contracting systems, representatives for the White House did not address specifics but defended Musk and DOGE’s actions overall, saying they were fulfilling Trump’s commitment to make the federal government more accountable,” Reuters said.
Vice President JD Vance addressed criticism of Musk’s influence in the Trump administration Wednesday in an X post. He noted that Americans voted “for Donald Trump who promised repeatedly to have Elon Musk root out wasteful spending in our government.”
However, polls from The Economist/YouGov indicate that Americans – both shortly after the election and this month haven’t been enthusiastic – about Musk having an influential role in the administration.
Results from a poll of 1,734 U.S. adults taken between Nov. 9 and Nov. 12 of last year found that just 27% desired the business mogul to have “a lot” of influence in government. This sentiment was even lower for those who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris (10%) but more than half of Trump voters (51%) were in favor of it. When pulling back to look at conservatives overall, that dropped to 48%, compared to 12% for liberals and 21% for moderates. Results from a poll of 1,604 adult U.S. citizens taken from Feb. 2 to Feb. 4 of this year found that just 13% of people wanted Musk to have a lot of influence in Trump’s administration.