Breaking: Foreign agent illegally seizes control of Medicare & Medicaid Payment System

(Yes, I'm aware Elon Musk is a naturalized citizen, but given the Musk/Trump Administration's obsession with demonizing immigrants it seems like an appropriate headline)

via the Wall Street Journal:

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.

There is no such thing as the "Department of Government Efficiency." It doesn't exist. Departments of the U.S. federal government require legislative approval by Congress, which has not happened. As I understand it, they have no legal authority to do anything that they're doing and pretty much everything they've been doing the past week or so has violated multiple federal laws.

"DOGE" consists of Elon Musk and a small band of young college-age men who have virtually zero governmental or managerial experience or qualifications:

Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy.

WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.

The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.

The possibilities of this merry band of TechBros having unlimited access to every part of the Medicare & Medicaid payment system boggles the mind in any number of horrifying ways.

Will they refuse to make Medicare payments to neurosurgeons unless they agree to sign contracts with Elon Musk's Neuralink? Will they cut off Medicaid payments to Democratic-leaning states only? Who knows?

God help us.