The meeting on Thursday, which was titled "Planning Touch Base," included a top DOGE lieutenant, Rachel Riley, along with recently Trump-appointed top brass at CMS, including Acting Administrator and Chief of Staff Stephanie Carlton,

Speaking at a POLITICO event, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure suggested that Elon Musk and his team don't have sufficient expertise in Medicare.

Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined a group of Democrats urging President Trump and Elon Musk to not cut Medicare and Medicaid.

Many Democratic criticisms of Musk have been warnings that he might cause problems for key entitlements that cater to senior citizens, such as Social Security and Medicare.

The post 2008 financial shock, by necessity, required governments create massive piles of cash to sustain the economy, especially if they were not going to bail out holders of home mortgages. Turning cash over to finance kept the economy humming,

Any that takes place appears to be of the small change, one-person-at-a-time sort, not the larger-scale continuing issues at Medicaid and Medicare.

Musk originally claimed he could find $2 trillion in cuts — nearly one-third of the entire federal budget — and then lowered his sights to “only” $1 trillion. Both figures are wildly unrealistic, unless the administration changes its tune and addresses Social Security and Medicare solvency.

Elon Musk has said that Social Security benefits could increase as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues its investigations into the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Elon Musk called things like Social Security and Medicare “entitlements.” Do you know who gets Social Security and Medicare? People who are retired, disabled, and those who are 65 or older. Musk was speaking at CPAC when he spoke about the 500 billion dollars a year spend on these two programs.

The billionaire's claims about millions of dead people on Social Security are dead wrong. The real problem is a shrinking workforce paying into the system.

Gleason is a former health-care executive and nurse who worked for the U.S. Digital Service, DOGE’s predecessor, and has advocated for better medical record-keeping.