Elon Musk’s DOGE team exposes $100 billion Medicare & Medicaid fraud and waste, sparks federal crackdown

Elon Musk has exposed what he claims to be a massive $100 billion in wasted taxpayer money within Medicare and Medicaid, calling it the “epicenter of fraud.” In a post on X, Musk said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) “wasted $100B of taxpayer money!“

Musk tweeted, as his DOGE team (Department of Government Efficiency) worked alongside CMS officials to review payment and contracting systems. With this revelation, the scale of fraud and mismanagement in these programs is facing serious scrutiny, and the Trump administration is gearing up to tackle the abuse head-on.

This revelation could shake up the American healthcare system. Musk, leading efforts under President Trump’s newly created DOGE, claims that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has wasted $100 billion of taxpayer money.

On Wednesday, Musk’s team and two senior CMS veterans started reviewing the agency’s payment and contracting systems—the backbone of health insurance for nearly one in four Americans.

“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 told Reuters. DOGE has been given read-only access to CMS systems.

The mission, according to Andrew G. Nixon, HHS’s director of communications, is to spot opportunities for better resource use in line with Trump’s efficiency agenda. But the focus quickly shifted from efficiency to uncovering what Musk describes as rampant fraud.

“This is where the big money fraud is happening,” Musk tweeted in response to a post about DOGE aides searching CMS payment systems for fraud.

Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening https://t.co/jXqXrlKDGp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2025

By Thursday night, Musk’s claims became even bolder when he tweeted, “They wasted $100B of taxpayer money!”

They wasted $100B of taxpayer money! https://t.co/LZtrliFiJU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025

CMS handles over a billion Medicare claims each year, oversees healthcare quality through hospital and nursing home inspections, and distributes billions to states for Medicaid programs. Medicare covers about 68 million people, mainly seniors and those with disabilities, while Medicaid serves around 73 million low-income Americans.

Between June and October 2024, CMS suspended 850 agents and brokers’ Marketplace Agreements due to suspected fraud or abusive practices, like unauthorized enrollments or plan switches. These agents are now barred from participating in Marketplace enrollment and cannot receive commissions.

The Department of Justice has also been cracking down on healthcare fraud. In June 2024, it charged 193 defendants, including 76 medical professionals, for their roles in fraudulent schemes that totaled about $2.75 billion in false claims. Since 2007, over 5,400 defendants have been charged for fraudulently billing Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers more than $27 billion.

With Musk’s latest findings, the spotlight is back on CMS, and it’s likely this is just the beginning of a much bigger investigation into fraud and mismanagement in federal healthcare programs.

A Time-Limited Experiment

Meanwhile, DOGE’s lifespan is as audacious as its goals. The department is set to disband on July 4, 2026, aligning with the nation’s 250th anniversary. This tight deadline underscores its commitment to efficiency—even in its own operations. “The ultimate success of DOGE is its obsolescence,” Musk remarked, adding his signature mix of wit and confidence.

DOEG