February 23, 2026
Dear Representative/Senator,
We appreciate your leadership in advancing President Trump’s agenda to reduce government spending and restore accountability by reining in bureaucracy and rooting out waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in Washington.
That work is essential, and as you move forward to build on your success for the remainder of the 119th Congress, there is a clear opportunity to deliver more meaningful results by eliminating the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
CMMI was created in the Affordable Care Act with a narrow mandate to test limited payment “models” for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program that would reduce costs and improve care. The Congressional Budget Office originally projected that CMMI would save $2.8 billion between 2011 and 2020. Instead, it lost $5.4 billion during that period and is projected to lose another $1.3 billion by 2030.
A June 2021 report found that only four of 174 CMMI models sufficiently met the required standards of reduced spending or improved quality to be expanded across Medicare nationwide. Common sense dictates that any federal program with such an abysmal rate of success should not be given any further opportunity to waste the taxpayers’ money.
Yet CMMI’s defenders argue the agency will eventually “get better.” Fifteen years of failure prove otherwise. No private enterprise with this record would be allowed to continue operating, let alone expand its authority.
Rather than correcting course, CMMI has expanded the scale, scope, and coerciveness of its models. They interfere with the decisions of doctors and patients about the best course of care, and override policy decisions made by Congress. They also disrupt care delivery and burden providers with administrative complexity and undermine patient choice.
CMMI has a guaranteed source of funding that gives unelected bureaucrats broad authority to make healthcare policy decisions without any obligation to succeed. The lack of accountability and transparency and disregard for outcomes are costly for taxpayers and dangerous for patients.
CMMI is a failure. It is time for Congress to shut it down.
Sincerely,
Tom Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
James L. Martin, Founder and Chairman, 60 Plus Association
Tim Chapman, President, Advancing American Freedom
Saulius Anuzis, President, American Association of Senior Citizens
Phil Kerpen,President, American Commitment
Dee Stewart, President & CEO, Americans for a Balanced Budget
Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform
Rebecca Weber, CEO, Association of Mature American Citizens
Melissa Ortiz, Founder & Principal, Capability Consulting
Anthony Zagotta, President, Center for American Principles
Ryan Ellis, President, Center for a Free Economy
Jeff Mazzella, President, Center for Individual Freedom
Ginevra Joyce-Myers, Executive Director, Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise
Andrew Langer, Executive Director, Coalition Against Socialized Medicine
Bob Johnson, Senior Advisor, Commitment to Seniors
Jeremy Nighohossian, Senior Fellow & Economist, Competitive Enterprise Institute
James Edwards, Executive Director, Conservatives for Property Rights
Gerard Scimeca, Chairman, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Joel White, President, Council for Affordable Health Coverage
Eunie Smith, President, Eagle Forum of Alabama
George Landrith, President, Frontiers of Freedom
Beverly Gossage, President, HSA Benefits Consulting
Carol Davis, Chair, Illinois Conservative Union
Tom Giovanetti, President, Institute for Policy Innovation
Brian Balfour, Senior Vice President of Research, John Locke Foundation
Seton Motley, President, Less Government
Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring
Tim Jones, Former Speaker, Missouri House of Representatives, Founder, Leadership for America Institute
Pete Sepp, President, National Taxpayers Union
Tami L. Fitzgerald, J.D., Executive Director, NC Values Coalition
Sally C. Pipes, President & CEO, Pacific Research Institute
Drew White, Founder & CEO, Palisade Policy Group
Paul Gessing, President, Rio Grande Foundation
Trent England, Executive Director, Save Our States
Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Kerri Toloczko, Founder & Chair, Southwest Florida Center-Right Coalition
David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Paul Teller, President, Teller Strategies
Bob Carlstrom, President, The Carlstrom Group
Kent Kaiser, Executive Director, Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity
Steve Moore, Co-Founder, Unleash Prosperity Now
Kevin Riffe, Chairman, West Virginia Center-Right Coalition