DOGE Can Find $2 Trillion of Waste in Healthcare Alone, and Fast
The biggest and most obvious source of federal waste is bureaucratic overhead in healthcare, doubled by Obamacare to over 50% of all healthcare spending.
by Deane Waldman, M.D. and Vance Ginn
June 25, 2025
When President Donald Trump formed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he chose Elon Musk to lead the charge. The mission: eliminate $2 trillion in federal waste to help balance the bloated budget. When Musk’s 134-day tenure ended, DOGE claimed to have found “hundreds of billions” in waste. NPR suggested that the number would be closer to $2 billion. The House of Representatives just passed a bill claiming $9.4 billion in DOGE savings.
Whatever the final amount, it’s a long way from the $2 trillion target. But there’s one place DOGE hasn’t touched, and it’s where more than $2 trillion in waste is hiding in plain sight: the U.S. healthcare system.
Waste, as defined in management terms, is “use or expenditure that is careless, extravagant, or to no purpose.”
In healthcare, the end user is the patient. Money that doesn’t result in better access to care or improved outcomes is wasted. And based on well-established data, the amount…