'He Failed The Test': Ron Wyden Blasts Dr. Oz, Says He Won't Support His Nomination

3/25/2025

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) spoke about the nomination of Dr. Oz to run CMS.

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Transcript

00:00I now recognize Ranking Member Wyden for his remarks.

00:03Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:06Later today, we're going to vote on the Oz nomination.

00:09I'm just going to spend a few minutes describing why I can't support the nomination.

00:16During his confirmation hearing, Dr. Oz was given the chance to assure the American people

00:21that he would not be a rubber stamp for Republican plans to gut Medicaid and hike Affordable

00:28Care Act premiums.

00:30At every turn, he failed the test.

00:33When I asked him a yes or no question about whether he would protect Medicaid, he dodged,

00:39he weaved, he simply wouldn't answer.

00:42That's a stark contrast to what I heard at town hall meetings opened all in Oregon the

00:46past week.

00:47In Oregon City, I was joined by Patty and Katina, a mom and a daughter who count on

00:52Medicaid to help with Katina's medical expenses.

00:56Because of Medicaid, Katina can thrive in the community as an Oregonian who lives with

01:02Down syndrome.

01:04There are countless other families in Oregon and across the country who are terrified of

01:09these cuts.

01:10Dr. Oz also ducked a number of my other questions.

01:15When pressed on whether nurses belong in nursing homes, he replied, that was a complicated

01:23question.

01:24I just found that a jaw dropper.

01:27It isn't complicated for the rest of us whether nursing homes ought to have adequate staff

01:32to take your mom to the bathroom or give your grandpa meals.

01:37I told Dr. Oz it was pretty simple.

01:41Not only did the nominee dodge and weave during questioning at his confirmation hearing, he

01:45also failed to provide factual responses to our written questions submitted after the

01:49hearing.

01:50This lack of responsiveness to Congress ought to be unacceptable to every member of our

01:55committee.

01:56But the Republican majority once again seems eager to disregard their own congressional

01:59oversight responsibilities when Donald Trump calls the shots.

02:04I'll once again state that Dr. Oz is the second Trump nominee to come before this committee

02:09with a record of dodging Medicare and Social Security taxes.

02:15Nurses and firefighters across America pay taxes with every single hard-earned paycheck.

02:21But the multimillionaire nominated to run Medicare can't be bothered to do the same

02:26thing.

02:45Chairman, this is a continuation of our efforts to spotlight health care middlemen that in

02:53my view are leeching off the health care system at the expense of taxpayers and seniors.

02:59Our investigation found that too many for-profit insurance companies are spending billions

03:04of taxpayer dollars on marketing middlemen to drown seniors in calls and mailers.

03:11These tactics are designed to pressure them into enrolling in private health plans that

03:14might not even cover their preferred doctor or medicines or that may put up unexpected

03:21roadblocks to getting the care they need.

03:23Insurance companies and these marketing middlemen have orchestrated a complex and complicated

03:28system to line the pockets of shareholders by raising costs for seniors and taxpayers

03:33and invading oversight and accountability.

03:37Given Dr. Oz's history of basically acting as a salesman for Medicare Advantage, putting

03:41him in charge of regulating these middlemen is almost like letting the fox guard the proverbial

03:47henhouse.

03:48The bottom line is that American tax dollars are in too many instances being used by profit

03:54insurance companies for shady marketing practices that take advantage of older people.

04:00For-profit insurance companies spend five times more on marketing and administrative

04:04expenses than traditional Medicare, which is of course run by the government.

04:08If Elon Musk and his cronies at Doge actually cared about targeting waste and fraud, they'd

04:13be focused on waste and Medicare Advantage rather than targeting Americans' hard-earned

04:18Social Security.

04:20We've successfully fought for more consumer protections against predatory M.A. marketing

04:25and I asked Dr. Oz to pledge not to roll those protections back.

04:30He may be open to our concerns on that and if he's confirmed, I'm going to hold him to

04:35that and watchdog this issue spotlighting abuses.

04:38The bottom line, colleagues, is that this is an ability to a nominee who has shown no

04:44ability to or interest in pushing back on the dangerous Trump health care agenda.

04:49I urge my colleagues to vote no.

'He Failed The Test': Ron Wyden Blasts Dr. Oz, Says He Won't Support His Nomination

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