Now, even though DOGE has officially ended, many of its supporters believe the initiative is entering a much larger battlefield: Medicare.
Why Previous Reform Efforts Failed
Government efficiency has long been a bipartisan talking point, but successful execution has been far more elusive.
One of the most famous attempts came during the Reagan administration. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan assembled the Grace Commission and challenged private-sector leaders to identify wasteful federal spending.
Reagan famously urged members of the commission to “work like tireless bloodhounds” and search for every possible opportunity to reduce government waste.
The commission spent years examining federal operations and ultimately produced thousands of recommendations and massive volumes of research. Yet despite its efforts, most of those proposals never became reality.
Washington’s bureaucracy survived largely untouched.
That pattern has repeated itself time and again. Experts identify inefficiencies, reports are published, politicians debate the findings, and little changes.
DOGE was designed to bypass that process altogether.
A Different Strategy
Created through President Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025, DOGE focused on direct action rather than lengthy studies.
Instead of issuing recommendations, teams were placed inside agencies such as the Treasury Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Education.
Supporters argue that this structure allowed DOGE to move quickly before legal challenges and political opposition could slow its efforts.
According to administration figures, more than 260,000 federal employees left government service during 2025 through workforce reductions, retirement programs, deferred resignations, and hiring restrictions.
DOGE also reported terminating nearly 16,000 federal grants worth roughly $49 billion.
The administration additionally targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs throughout the federal government and pursued significant restructuring of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Officials also cited reductions involving office leases, software contracts, and other administrative expenses.
By the time the initiative concluded, DOGE claimed total savings of approximately $215 billion.
That figure immediately became the subject of fierce political debate.
Critics questioned the methodology behind the calculations, while supporters argued that even if every dollar could not be independently verified, the scope of the reductions was undeniable.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle defended the effort, stating: “President Trump was given a clear mandate to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government. He has made significant progress in making the federal government more efficient to better serve the American taxpayer.”
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought also signaled that the administration was focused on results rather than producing a final report.
“We have no plans to do kind of a closing DOGE report. I think it made some really important strides,” Vought said.
On July 4, DOGE’s official social media account issued what appeared to be its final public statement.
“While the formal mission of DOGE has come to an end, the mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse will continue. Good stewardship of taxpayer dollars and accountable government are not temporary initiatives.”
Even Elon Musk, who became closely associated with the effort, offered a measured assessment during an appearance on the Katie Miller Podcast, describing DOGE as “somewhat successful.”
While that may sound modest, supporters point out that reducing spending by $215 billion is hardly insignificant in a federal government that spends trillions annually.
The Next Target: Medicare
The most important development may not be DOGE’s closure, but where its leadership has gone next.
Amy Gleason, who served as DOGE’s acting administrator, has now joined the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a major strategic role.
CMS oversees one of the largest pools of federal spending in existence, with roughly $1.5 trillion flowing through the agency each year.
In June 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services formally established a new Office of Health Technology and Products. Gleason was selected to help lead the effort while serving as a Strategic Advisor within CMS.
According to reports, hundreds of healthcare organizations have already joined her Health Tech Ecosystem initiative.
Supporters say the goal is to modernize health systems, improve transparency, and better track the movement of federal healthcare dollars.
For critics of government waste, the significance is obvious.
DOGE may have disappeared from the headlines. Its website may be inactive. Its social media account may have gone silent.
But the operational philosophy that drove the initiative appears to be moving into one of the largest and most expensive corners of the federal government.
If DOGE’s methods are applied to Medicare spending with the same intensity seen elsewhere, the political battles surrounding government reform may be only beginning.
