Mehmet Oz, the movie star quack physician, confronted his Senate affirmation listening to on Friday as he seeks to steer the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers. And he refused to vow he gained’t assist the Republican Get together slash Medicaid.
“Since you cherish Medicaid, will you agree to oppose cuts in the Medicaid program?” requested Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.
“I cherish Medicaid, and I’ve worked within the Medicaid environment quite extensively, as I highlighted, practicing at Columbia University,” Oz replied.
Wyden shot again: “That’s not that question, doctor. The question is, will you oppose cuts to this program you say you cherish?”
Dodging the query once more, Oz stated, “I want to make sure that patients today and in the future have resources to protect them if they get ill. The way you protect Medicaid is by making sure that it’s viable at every level, which includes having enough practitioners to afford the services, paying them enough to do what you request of them, and making sure that patients are able to actually use Medicaid.”
For the document, it was a sure/no query.
Later, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced up a well-liked phrase—“waste, fraud, and abuse”—and referred to the problem of insurance coverage scams in Medicare the place insurers have been notoriously pocketing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer {dollars} via “upcoding.” As an illustration, The Wall Avenue Journal discovered that insurers had been pocketing $50 billion in Medicare by giving sufferers faux diagnoses.
“If you had the choice, would you rather cut waste, fraud, and abuse by a Fortune 50 health insurance company in Medicare Advantage, or cut funding for Medicaid, which covers half of all seniors in nursing homes and 1 in 3 of America’s children?” Warren requested.
“My purpose is to enhance the well being care of the American individuals,” Oz replied, “and as you create the argument, the former sounds like the more rational way to do that.”
Oz has his personal multimillion-dollar investments within the well being care sector, which had senators like Warren involved previous to the listening to. In a 2020 op-ed in Forbes, he outlined a plan to denationalise Medicare Benefit, which appeared as a battle of curiosity given the movie star physician’s private investments in corporations which may get a bit of the pie. In February, responding to the resurfaced op-ed, Oz stated that he would promote most of his shares in these corporations ought to he get nominated.
However his affirmation additionally introduced again some skeletons within the daytime discuss present host’s closet.
Across the time of his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022, Oz’s dealings with complement firm Usana got here to mild. Oz turned a spokesperson for the corporate, peddling the merchandise on his discuss present and talking at occasions. Nevertheless, among the merchandise had been later discovered to have unsafe ranges of lead.
The physician minimize ties with the merchandise previous to his run for Senate.
After all, he’s not the one Trump nominee with shady grifts of their previous. If confirmed, Oz will work below Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s now operating the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
With measles instances rising and two reported deaths, Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján of Arizona appeared hesitant to log out on one other of Trump’s appointees so quick.
“My colleagues and I have written twice to the secretary of health and human services to do more to address measles. There’s not been a response,” he stated, then appeared to rhetorically ask Oz if he would make the identical promise RFK Jr. didn’t maintain.
Chatting with RFK Jr. instantly, Luján stated, “Secretary, if you’re watching today, respond to the damn letter. People are dying.”
