At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Friday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) questioned Dr. Oz about potential cuts to Medicaid.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Senator Wyden will go next, and then Senator Grassley, and hopefully I'll be back by then.
00:05So, thank you.
00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:07Dr. Oz, I was listening carefully to your remarks, and you talked about cherishing Medicaid,
00:16and I think that's a very good sentiment.
00:19So, I want to ask about how we're going to do that.
00:22Will you agree this morning, since you want to cherish Medicaid, to oppose any cuts to the Medicaid program?
00:32And I want a yes or no, because we all agree that we need to do more to fight fraud and such matters.
00:43But what I want to know, yes or no, is since you cherish Medicaid, will you agree to oppose cuts in the Medicaid program?
00:52I cherish Medicaid, and I've worked within the Medicaid environment quite extensively,
00:56as I highlighted, practicing at Columbia University.
00:58That's not the question, doctor.
01:00The question is, will you oppose cuts to this program you say you cherish?
01:05Time's short.
01:06I want to make sure that patients today and in the future have resources to protect them if they get ill.
01:11The way you protect Medicaid is by making sure that it's viable at every level,
01:16which includes having enough practitioners to afford the services, paying them enough to do what you request of them,
01:21and making sure that patients are able to actually use Medicaid.
01:24Let the record show that I asked a witness who said he cherishes this program,
01:30will you agree to oppose cuts?
01:33And he would not answer a yes or no question.
01:36Let me ask you about rural communities, because they get hit by Medicaid cuts if they go through like a wrecking ball.
01:44I mean, it is going to be devastating.
01:46To rural America, we've got a lot of senators who care about this.
01:50The Oregon County with the highest share of residents who get their health insurance through Medicaid
01:54is Malheur County on the border with Idaho.
01:57By the way, this is an area that Donald Trump won in the election by 70%.
02:03So, because I want you to be able to do more to actually cherish Medicaid and help people,
02:09I'd like to invite you this morning to come visit Malheur County if you're confirmed
02:16and see what this really means to rural communities.
02:20I've had more than 1,100 of these town hall meetings, and we'd make you the guest at one if you're confirmed.
02:26Will you come?
02:27If confirmed, I commit to visiting with you if you'll teach me your jump shot.
02:32I like that part, but I'd like to know, will you come to Malheur County?
02:37I can make sure there's a basketball court.
02:39I promise you I will be with you in Mt. Cook County or everywhere you wish to travel within Oregon.
02:46Okay. First 60 days, so we can do it while it really counts when these cuts are being debated?
02:51If you don't mind, I just want to ask somebody within CMS what the rules are,
02:55but if I'm allowed to do it, I'll be there in 60 days.
02:57All right, good. Let me ask you now about how we're going to rein in DOJ,
03:02because people often say that, you know, I'm a privacy hawk, and I like that,
03:08but the fact is everybody in the Senate is a privacy hawk because of DOJ,
03:13because we are very troubled about the prospect of DOJ going in there to this treasure trove of health care data
03:20that has all the information on these patients.
03:24What are you going to do to do more to protect them?
03:26Because right now we know nothing, let me repeat that,
03:30nothing from this administration about how they are going to protect the patients,
03:35and we have asked and asked some more.
03:37What are you going to do, if confirmed, to protect people against overreach by DOJ on health care?
03:42Senator Wyden, I, like you, have not been involved with DOJ.
03:46I'm only reading the papers and keeping up the news in that fashion.
03:51I have treasured building teams my whole career.
03:55The first thing I am going to do, if confirmed—
03:57So you have talked to no one in the administration about DOJ to date?
04:01No.
04:02Didn't talk to Secretary Kennedy?
04:06No.
04:07Never talked to him? Okay. Go ahead, please.
04:10I know that in order to run a large organization, you have to get people excited about going to work.
04:16They have to see the vision that you have, and there's a fine line between vision and hallucination.
04:20Other people have to see it to be a vision.
04:23So I intend to spend my first precious few weeks in the agency, if confirmed,
04:28speaking to the staff, raising morale, getting people excited,
04:31and addressing what's going on with DOJ.
04:34I will know a lot more if I'm confirmed by this committee.
04:37Do you think this ought to be a priority issue for you, if you're confirmed?
04:40Doing more to protect privacy at DOJ?
04:44I'd like to know more what's going on with privacy at DOJ.
04:47I've read the CMS homepage.
04:49The website says that only people who have gone through a training program
04:54are allowed to see the records, and they can only read the records.
04:57I've got one last question.
04:59Do you believe in a nursing home there should be a registered nurse available around the clock 24-7?
05:08The reason I ask this is because that is the rule that is coming up,
05:13but there's going to be an effort to roll it back.
05:15So do you think we ought to have nursing homes without nurses?
05:19Senator Wyden, as you know, it's a complicated question.
05:22No, it's not. We need a nurse in a nursing home, not too complicated.
05:25I actually think we need a nurse who will work in a nursing home,
05:28and in many nursing homes that's become a problem.
05:30So I believe we can provide quality of care equivalent to having a nurse in that nursing home
05:36using tools and technologies, including telemedicine.
05:39I want to be flexible enough so that we deal with a massive crisis
05:42that we spoke about briefly yesterday, that we have a lot of people aging.
05:46In the opening statements it was pointed out that we're going to go from 68 million people on Medicaid
05:51to 90 million people on Medicaid over the next decade.
05:55So I want to ensure, and if it's confirmed, I would like to focus on this issue.
05:59My time has expired.
06:01I would only say that right now the proposal gives rural communities five years to come into compliance.
06:09So I think we can get this done.
06:11If you're confirmed, I hope you won't take the nurses out of nursing homes
06:15because there's going to be an effort in the Senate to do that, and I'm going to be opposed to it.