Democratic Health Leaders Call for Inspector General Investigation into Elon Musk’s Access to Americans’ Sensitive Health Care information
Wyden, Pallone, and Neal Sound the Alarm Over Musk and his “DOGE” Lackeys Can Exploit Americans’ Sensitive Health Care Information
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., and House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., expressed alarm over Elon Musk and his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” or “DOGE” lackeys’ access to the sensitive health care information of the American people.
The Democratic Committee leaders called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Principal Deputy Inspector General to begin an immediate investigation into Musk and his minions having access to health care records at HHS and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The HHS Inspector General was part of Trump’s illegal purge of IGs last month.
“It is the essential mission of the HHS Office of the Inspector General to conduct oversight of HHS and CMS, to identify problems and implement effective safeguards, to correct programmatic vulnerabilities, to ensure laws are appropriately followed, and to hold bad actors accountable. Therefore, we ask HHS-OIG to conduct an urgent review of the actions of the DOGE at HHS and CMS,” the three Democratic Health Committee leaders wrote to the Inspector General.
The Health Committee leaders also wrote to the HHS Acting Health Secretary and the CMS Acting Administrator expressing serious concerns and demanding immediate answers given that Musk and his anonymous DOGE team members can exploit their access to Americans’ sensitive health care information for personal profit.
“The Trump Administration has provided no justification for DOGE access to these systems, nor has it provided any information on why this access is required in light of existing efforts within CMS and across HHS to reign in legitimate fraud and abuse,” the Committee leaders wrote. “Without appropriate oversight, transparency, and accountability, our nation’s health care system —and the privacy of millions of Americans—are at the political whims of President Trump, Congressional Republicans, and DOGE.”
CMS oversees health insurance coverage for over 160 million Americans through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces and distributes more than $1.5 trillion in payments annually. Payment systems include both personally identifiable information and personal health information for tens of millions of seniors, adults, and children—including payments, medical conditions, medications, services rendered, furnishing providers, and home addresses.
Federal laws protect sensitive personal and financial information from improper disclosure and misuse, including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it.
The letter text to HHS Inspector General is here.
The letter text to HHS and CMS is here.
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