Someone should investigate the incompetence going on at CMS.
The New Republic – Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling April 3, 2025 People Trying to Fight Trump’s Job Purges Told to Call Dead Woman Yet another example of the Trump administration’s incompetence and cruelty. Recently laid-off employees from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were told to contact Anita Pinder, the former director at the agency’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, with any complaints. A notice informed severed workers that they had 45 calendar days to contact Pinder following their termination date, listing Pinder’s name, email, and phone number. But those who knew Pinder said the directive came as a “gut punch,” according to The Washington Post, since Pinder died last year. “They couldn’t have run it past the people at CMS that were at the funeral and knew she died,” Karen Shields, one of Pinder’s former co-workers, told the Post.
Stephanie Carlton is the acting director of CMS, and surely leadership should be held accountable for this gaffe, which shows that the communication and operational decisions are compromised, and might actually indicate a larger problem here. Which is not surprising since they made huge cuts to the department already and RFKJr is creating chaos.
My letter to reps:
I read in the news that recently laid off employees of Medicare and Medicaid Services were directed to contact someone who not only no longer works at CMS, but died last year. This seems to indicate a serious breakdown in communication at a minimum and this agency needs to be investigated, including the current acting director and the head of HHS.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.