DOGE targets Medicare agency, looking for fraud

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and has gained access to payment and contracting systems in search for potential fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

CMS oversees Medicare, the health coverage program for older and disabled Americans, and Medicaid, for lower-income enrollees, which provides insurance for over 140 million U.S. citizens.

The 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.

WSJ reported, citing one of the people familiar with DOGE's work at CMS, that Musk's allies have not been given access to databases that include identifiable personal health information of Medicare or Medicaid enrollees.

The new campaign comes just days after DOGE targeted USAID, leading to the firing of 50 top officials and the organization being folded into the State Department.

Signs were also removed from USAID's headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., and the DOGE team took over the computer systems, sources said. USAID is responsible for distributing civilian foreign aid and development assistance to countries around the globe.

The 90-day pause has halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide and forced aid organizations to lay off hundreds of employees because they can't make payroll.

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner, Chris Pandolfo, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.