DOGE digs into Medicare and Medicaid to search for fraud

February 6th, 2025

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SGT
February 06, 2025

Salty Ginger Talk Newsletter

February 6th, 2025

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CURRENT EVENTS

DOGE digs into Medicare and Medicaid to search for fraud

Our take: The “Department of Government Efficiency” has proved controversial since the idea was announced.

On one side many support one of the most consequential entrepreneurs of our generation leading efforts to identify and eliminate waste from the US Government.

On another, many have questioned the clear potential for conflict of interest that exists when a person who has billions of government contracts flowing to his companies so heavily involved in shaping the direction of the current administration. We find both side have valid points and concerns.

DOGE has been focused on smaller items to start. The number of government employees, DEI initiatives, and questionable government spending on smaller items have been their focus to this point.

This makes sense to us from a strategy perspective. Start with small items, figure out your process, then move on to the bigger stuff. They appear to be comfortable taking that step, as Medicare and Medicaid spend around $1.5 trillion in health care costs for the elderly and low income Americans who qualify for these programs.

Any conflicts of interest aside, we cannot wait to see what they find as they dig into the data. This group is small, tech savvy, and smart. They have the ability to access and analyze data in ways that simply have not existed in the government before.

The potential to use technology to find patterns, identify fraud, and root out cost savings is clear. We will go on record now as saying they will uncover billions of dollars of fraud and savings in these systems. We simply cannot wait to see what they uncover!

COURTESY: MSN

DOJ freezes federal funding to sanctuary cities

Our take: Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General of Florida, was confirmed as the US Attorney General on Tuesday. She wasted no time making her stance on immigration law clear: follow the law or pay the price.

On her first day in the position, Bondi issued a memo freezing all DOJ funding for federal grants to “sanctuary cities”. A sanctuary city is one who has declared their local law enforcement will not cooperate with federal agencies enforcing immigration law. One example of the “non-cooperation” is not notifying federal agencies when local authorities have a known illegal immigrant in custody for a crime - no matter the crime they are accused of.

In her memo, Bondi wrote: … The Department of Justice will ensure that, consistent with law, ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’ do not receive access to Federal funds from the Department,” reads Bondi’s memo.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions should not receive access to federal grants administered by the Department of Justice,” the memo later states.

The DOJ plans to “pursue enforcement actions” against cities that get in the way of federal immigration crackdown efforts, according to the memo.

“Actions that impede federal efforts to enforce immigration law threaten public safety and national security,” Bondi’s memo states. “State and local jurisdictions must comply with applicable immigration-related federal laws.”

We are going to file this one under: Fuck around and find out. We have zero doubt that Bondi will direct her team to aggressively pursue enforcement of federal law, and those that choose to deliberately violate federal law will be held to account.

This is great news for Americans. Every US Citizen should be able to count on our elected officials at all levels to perform their most basic responsibility - keep citizens safe. If we don’t know who is in the country or what their background is, that becomes more difficult. Getting this issue under control is long overdue.

COURTESY: MSN

Congresswoman declares “We are at war” in public rant

Our take: It has been a rough stretch for Democrats. Their nominee for President exited the race after being exposed as an old man no longer capable of doing the job. They then installed a candidate who was so unpopular with Democrats, she had to exit the primary race before a single vote was cast. She promptly lost the presidential election. In addition, the Democrats lost control of the Senate and failed to gain control of the House.

After President Trump took office, despite his team clearly laying out their agenda, the Democrats have appear flat footed as they rolled out their programs.

They appear to have finally woke up, but that may be a bigger problem for them. They held an unhinged “rally” in Washington where Democrat members of the House and Senate took turns screaming unhinged garbage at their followers. Most notable was Rep LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, who declared “We are at war” when protesting the DOGE department activities.

it is rich for the same team that has spent the last 10 years railing about Trump’s “divisive rhetoric” to stand in the nations capitol and declare “war” against their political enemies.

The good news is, unless they plan on finishing off their rivals with avocado toast, yelling the wrong pronouns at them until they run away in shame, or hiring a Republican with a gun to do the work for them, there is not a lot to worry about from this bunch.

We hope their day gets better…

COURTESY: MSN

TIP OF THE DAY

Before you react, stop and think for a few seconds. Statements or actions made from a heightened state of emotions can be impulsive, damaging, and have long term consequences. A few moments of clear thought can help you avoid all this if you use your head.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It is better to be alone than in bad company - George Washington

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