Dr. Oz Won't Commit to Protecting Medicaid [View all]
Source: Rolling Stone
March 14, 2025
The Department of Health and Human Services is already headed by a vaccine skeptic, and the Trump administration would like to install a TV doctor to run the nation’s most vital health care systems.
Dr. Mehmet Oz sat today for a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss his nomination as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. When asked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) an incredibly basic question — if he would oppose cuts to Medicaid — Oz declined to answer the question directly.
“I cherish Medicaid, and I’ve worked within the Medicaid environment quite extensively, as I highlighted, practicing at Columbia University,” Oz said. Wyden interjected, restating his request that Oz answer directly. “I want to make sure that the patients today in the future have resources if they get ill, the way you protect Medicaid is by making sure that it’s viable at every level,” Oz replied, once again skirting the question. “Let the record show that I asked a witness, who said he cherishes this program, ‘will you agree to oppose cuts,’ and he would not answer a yes or no question,” Wyden told the committee.
Republicans are currently floating vast cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for an extension to Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The GOP’s proposed federal budget calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts to spending over the next decade 2034. The only committee-controlled pool from which the funds could originate is Medicaid, which provides government-funded health insurance to over 70 million Americans.
Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/dr-oz-protecting-medicaid-senate-hearing-1235296719/
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