Lucas Miller (2024)

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HHS
Washington, DC

I worked as a Health Insurance Specialist at CMS to help improve public transparency in the commercial health insurance and PBM markets, which are notorious for a lack of transparency. Had I worked at CMS for a longer period before being illegally terminated as a probationary employee, I would have also implemented Affordable Care Act regulations to ensure that health insurance companies spend at least 80% of their premium dollars on medical expenditures.

Without this work, policymakers will not have access to research they need to make informed decisions in order to improve health outcomes and lower costs for patients. Additionally, health insurance companies may find it easier to spend less on medical procedures and pocket a higher proportion of premium dollars than legally allowed.

I believed (and still believe) there is significant value in public service and wanted to make a positive contribution towards the country. Given the massive problems in the US healthcare sector, I was particularly interested in helping improve healthcare programs that could benefit a broad segment of the US population.

If your goal is to make the federal government more efficient and productive, then terminating the PMF program is the last thing you should be doing. The termination of the PMF program makes it abundantly clear that the Trump Administration is only interested in dismantling the government, not making it more efficient.