'So You Should Know': Cortez Masto Stumps Dr. Oz About Reality Of Medicaid Fraud

3/14/2025

At today's Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) questioned Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Trump's nominee to be Director of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you. Senator Cortez Masto.

00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to our Ranking Member.

00:04Dr. Oz, good to see you again.

00:06Thank you for taking the time to visit with me in my office.

00:08And welcome to your family.

00:10Let me start with this question.

00:12There's a couple, man and woman.

00:14They're married.

00:16They have a daughter.

00:18They're both working, working hard every day.

00:20But their daughter has a rare disease.

00:22Unfortunately, the only way they can afford

00:24her medical care and treatment

00:26is with the help of Medicaid.

00:28Would you think

00:30that this couple

00:32should be taken off Medicaid?

00:34As you

00:36describe it, no.

00:38And that's a bulk of

00:40the people that

00:42I hear from every day that need Medicaid.

00:44It's not what some of my colleagues are

00:46talking about, these people milking the

00:48system. It is true, hard

00:50working families that need help

00:52because, you've said it earlier, health care

00:54in this country is just too costly.

00:57There's not enough access. It's not affordable.

00:59And we've got to do a better job of addressing it.

01:01But until we do, we can't

01:03kick people to the curb

01:05when they need help for their kids in this

01:07instance.

01:09Let me also address something

01:11else here, which I just find

01:13offensive in so many ways.

01:15As my colleagues looking across the aisle

01:17at, I see

01:19two of my colleagues sitting between me

01:21and Ben Ray.

01:26Would you

01:28I don't even know if my colleagues know this.

01:30Do you know how many Medicaid fraud units actually

01:32exist in the states to go

01:34after Medicaid fraud and

01:36prosecute for abuse? You don't.

01:38So you should know

01:40because there are 53.

01:42There are 53 Medicaid

01:44fraud units. They cover every

01:46state, District of

01:48Columbia, Puerto Rico, and

01:50the U.S. Virgin Islands. And in 2024

01:52they recovered $1.4 billion

01:54in fraud. Now,

01:56granted, most people, and I have not even

01:58heard this from my colleagues, that fraud

02:00was provider fraud.

02:02That was provider fraud.

02:04So I am all about

02:06addressing waste, abuse,

02:08and fraud, but let's be

02:10real here in how we do it

02:12and make sure now we're not kicking

02:14this couple and their needs

02:16for their daughter off of Medicaid because

02:18we have some concept,

02:20which is false, about who it

02:22is actually benefiting.

02:24I also want to

02:26jump back here real quick.

02:28Senator Lankford,

02:30he has concerns about nursing

02:32homes closing in rural America.

02:34So do I. Absolutely.

02:36In rural Nevada, I have concerns,

02:38but I also like to note that

02:40cutting Medicaid the way

02:42that my colleagues in

02:44Republican leadership want to do,

02:46which they are proposing, would also

02:48close nursing homes in

02:50rural Nevada, including in Nevada.

02:52It would close hospitals, and it would

02:54close clinics.

02:56So that is something

02:58we have to keep in mind, and

03:00the reason why I bring this up is because

03:02like Senator Lankford said,

03:04in my state, if they don't have

03:06it in rural Nevada, they are

03:08driving four hours to get it somewhere else.

03:10That's ridiculous, and that's why

03:12I support your conversation around telehealth.

03:14I think it's important. Senator Daines and I

03:16support it together. It's bipartisan support.

03:18There's so much that needs to be done

03:20to address healthcare, and one of the things

03:22that I want to bring up is the ACA

03:24tax credits. We currently have

03:26in Nevada the lowest uninsured rate in our

03:28nation's history, thanks in part to the ACA

03:30marketplaces, which

03:32helped over 24 million

03:34get coverage last year, many

03:36with tax credits to lower their premium

03:38costs. If

03:40Republicans refuse to work with Democrats

03:42to extend these credits,

03:44costs will skyrocket, and

03:46people will lose coverage. In Nevada

03:48alone, 85,000 people

03:50could see hikes or thousands of dollars

03:52forcing them to drop their

03:54insurance, and the

03:56health insurance market will destabilize.

03:58So, Dr. Oz, if confirmed,

04:00do you agree

04:02that Congress must extend these

04:04tax credits to prevent massive

04:06premium hikes and coverage losses

04:08for working families?

04:10Senator, if confirmed,

04:12I need to learn more about the specifics of

04:14how much additional resources are required

04:16and for what parts of the system, but

04:18directionally, I like

04:20the idea of having transition programs

04:22to get folks who are able

04:24to work but are on Medicaid, for whatever

04:26reason, they have a family member that's ill,

04:28they've fallen ill and lost their job and lost their

04:30insurance. It's wise

04:32for us as a nation, as we take care

04:34of them, to get them back on their feet

04:36and then transition them to programs

04:38where they can actually afford the insurance.

04:40If you can't afford the insurance,

04:42can I stop you there? Because now your

04:44assumption is that it is people who are not

04:46working that are accessing Medicaid.

04:48And I just told you, there's a good

04:50segment,

04:52over 66% or more,

04:54that are actually working and getting

04:56this benefit. So,

04:58I would hope that you would keep that in mind

05:00as you go back to study this

05:02issue, and I would want you to

05:04study all of the facts. Because

05:06we don't want to harm people

05:08that we are actually providing an essential

05:10benefit to. And they are working.

05:12They are working. My time is up.

'So You Should Know': Cortez Masto Stumps Dr. Oz About Reality Of Medicaid Fraud

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Transcript

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