DOGE's new scam - "Medicaid/Medicare Fraud"

[Anonymous]

Of course this is where they'd end up because it's the motherlode of government spending. And even though Trump promised no cuts to Medicare/Medicaid, they're surely coming - and Elon will just claim FRAUD

https://www.wsj.com/politics/elon-musk-doge-medicare-medicaid-fraud-e697b162?st=ZQa8b6&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where they have gotten access to key payment and contracting systems, according to people familiar with the matter.

The DOGE representatives have been on site at the agency’s offices this week, the people said, and 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. DOGE representatives are also examining the agency’s organizational design and how it is staffed, the people added....

....One of the systems accessed by the DOGE representatives is CALM, or the CMS Acquisition Lifecycle Management system, which includes information about contracts, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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.

The DOGE access is “read-only,” meaning that its affiliates cannot make changes to the systems, the person added.

[Anonymous]

This was entirely foreseeable.

[Anonymous]

You know it's coming. It's a big target. It's a large percentage of the federal budget and it's starving everything else.

American taxpayers footed the bill for at least $1.8 trillion in federal and state health care expenditures in 2022 — about 41% of the nearly $4.5 trillion in both public and private health care spending the U.S. recorded last year, according to the annual report released last week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

https://www.statnews.com/2023/12/19/us-healthcare-costs-government-covers-41-percent-of-total/

[Anonymous]

Looking at Medicare and Medicaid makes a zillion times more sense than going after something like usaid or science research dollars. I detest trump but Medicare and Medicaid is where we are spending all of our country's money and it is where we need to look to figure out how not to go bankrupt.

[Anonymous]

17 cents of every dollar spent goes to health care.

17% of GDP is not sustainable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at Medicare and Medicaid makes a zillion times more sense than going after something like usaid or science research dollars. I detest trump but Medicare and Medicaid is where we are spending all of our country's money and it is where we need to look to figure out how not to go bankrupt.

I guess that's why Trump appointed noted Medicare/Medicaid expert Dr. Oz to be in charge. /s

Come on, they're going to claim "massive fraud" just like they've done with USAID and then start shutting things down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at Medicare and Medicaid makes a zillion times more sense than going after something like usaid or science research dollars. I detest trump but Medicare and Medicaid is where we are spending all of our country's money and it is where we need to look to figure out how not to go bankrupt.

So you do realize that Medicare and Medicaid expenditures are more efficient than private health insurance because the government caps costs for procedures? If we get rid of those programs US health care expenditures would rise, not fall, assuming the same level of care.

[Anonymous]

They also told us they had read only access at the treasury, but that ended up not being true.

I mean there is tons of Medicare/caid fraud. If they can find criminals, good. It makes way more sense than messing around with congressionally mandated spending.

In the end, they will find waste, but it will probably save very little. The whole reason we have so much health expenditure isn't primarily because of fraud, it's because of the asinine way the entire system is set up. DOGE can't fix that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at Medicare and Medicaid makes a zillion times more sense than going after something like usaid or science research dollars. I detest trump but Medicare and Medicaid is where we are spending all of our country's money and it is where we need to look to figure out how not to go bankrupt.

Just let the poors and the olds die in the streets...that will show em!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at Medicare and Medicaid makes a zillion times more sense than going after something like usaid or science research dollars. I detest trump but Medicare and Medicaid is where we are spending all of our country's money and it is where we need to look to figure out how not to go bankrupt.

So you do realize that Medicare and Medicaid expenditures are more efficient than private health insurance because the government caps costs for procedures? If we get rid of those programs US health care expenditures would rise, not fall, assuming the same level of care.

Privatization is the goal. They'll earn fees for dealing with it. In the end you just get more private equity injected into healthcare that's ruining everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know it's coming. It's a big target. It's a large percentage of the federal budget and it's starving everything else.

American taxpayers footed the bill for at least $1.8 trillion in federal and state health care expenditures in 2022 — about 41% of the nearly $4.5 trillion in both public and private health care spending the U.S. recorded last year, according to the annual report released last week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

https://www.statnews.com/2023/12/19/us-healthcare-costs-government-covers-41-percent-of-total/

I guess the red states better prepare to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

[Anonymous]

While they are at it, they should audit SSDI benefits for middle aged men in poor areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at Medicare and Medicaid makes a zillion times more sense than going after something like usaid or science research dollars. I detest trump but Medicare and Medicaid is where we are spending all of our country's money and it is where we need to look to figure out how not to go bankrupt.

Just let the poors and the olds die in the streets...that will show em!

You are creating the poors. By mandating so much spending here and there from ivory towers, everything else is being starved, because money can't be spent in two places at once.

Stop controlling so much of what you can't possibly see. It causes fraud, waste and abuse at an institutional level.

[Anonymous]

Finding this kind of fraud is difficult and time consuming. They may cut off payments, but it won't be because they discovered fraud. Aside, Florida is a good place to look for it, and you know that won't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They also told us they had read only access at the treasury, but that ended up not being true.

I mean there is tons of Medicare/caid fraud. If they can find criminals, good. It makes way more sense than messing around with congressionally mandated spending.

In the end, they will find waste, but it will probably save very little. The whole reason we have so much health expenditure isn't primarily because of fraud, it's because of the asinine way the entire system is set up. DOGE can't fix that.

It is sad that you think they are actually interested in reducing fraud. They are committing fraud.

State Capture.