Statement: A DOGE subcommittee discovered $2.7 trillion in “improper” Medicaid and Medicare payments to people living overseas.
Since President Donald Trump took office, Elon Musk, the owner of X, has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the Department of Government Efficiency has discovered “massive” government fraud.
Now, social media users are incorrectly crediting a congressional subcommittee working with DOGE — which Trump established and tasked Musk with leading — with uncovering nearly $3 trillion in fraudulent federal health insurance payments.
“The DOGE subcommittee just discovered $2.7 trillion in improper Medicare and Medicaid payments overseas, to people who should not have gotten it,” Threads, Facebook, and Instagram posts from February 12 to 14 stated.
It appears to be a reference to a February 12 meeting of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, which was also discussed at a White House news conference.
The social media posts included video footage of Brian Glenn, a reporter from the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice, asking White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during the February 12 news briefing: “Earlier, the subcommittee headed by Chairman Marjorie Taylor Greene, her and her staff discovered $2.7 trillion in improper payments to Medicare, Medicaid, and overseas to people who should not have received it.
Some people in this room might have missed the press conference. Can you explain what the president is thinking at this point?”
In the video, Leavitt said, “Well, that’s another example. DOGE uncovers a long list of fraud, waste, and abuse on a daily basis.
On February 13, Musk reposted the claim on X, writing, “Well, maybe this explains why the Democrats don’t want DOGE to investigate.”
However, neither DOGE nor the subcommittee that works with DOGE “discovered” $2.7 trillion in improper payments. And that figure includes more than just Medicare and Medicaid payments. A different federal agency discovered $2.7 trillion in problematic federal payments before Trump’s November 2024 reelection.
Some of these posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation in the News Feed.
During a subcommittee hearing on February 12, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., stated that the government “has lost $2.7 trillion because of improper payments” since 2003. Comer did not say which federal agencies made the improper payments.
During the Biden administration, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional agency, published reports on March 26, 2024, and June 27, 2024, estimating that, since fiscal 2003, federal agencies had reported $2.7 trillion in “improper” payments, defined as “those that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount.”
The $2.7 trillion included payments from Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programmes, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme. Auditors stated that the improper payments were made for a variety of reasons, including “unintentional administrative errors to fraud.”
The GAO reports did not state that those payments were made to people outside the United States, despite claims on social media that they were.
PolitiFact’s ruling
We rate the claim that a “DOGE subcommittee discovered $2.7 trillion in improper” Medicaid and Medicare payments to people overseas False.
