Earlier this week I noted the fact that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services had been oddly immune thus far to the DOGE axe, not just compared to other HHS divisions and agencies but across almost the entire federal government. This seemed in large part because of the role Brad Smith, a key DOGEr who worked at CMS during Trump’s first term, and because of nominal DOGE chief Amy Gleason who worked in high level roles at Smith’s companies. I noted that relative immunity because there were signs that might soon change. It has now changed.
On March 31st, CMS COO Amy Brandt sent out instructions for major cuts that had to take place across CMS. As she explained, HHS had been assigned a total amount of savings from canceled contracts. And of that total amount CMS was responsible for just over $2.7 billion. That amounted to 35% of CMS’s average total spend on contracts from the years FY2023 and 2024. So in technical terms, a shit-ton of money and a huge percentage of the overall budget.
