During a hearing on Friday, senators Dr. Mehmet Oz, the TV celebrity nominated to have nominated Medicare and Medicaid, proposing by the Republicans who would significantly influence the coverage of health care for almost half of all Americans.
During his confirmation hearing for the Senate Financing Committee, Dr. OZ with senators in a friendly atmosphere, jokes about basketball and faithfulness to university teams. He largely escaped difficult questions on either side of the aisle and showed his on-Air charm when he bent the most focused concerns of Democrats about possible radical changes in health coverage for not only from 65 years and older, but also for poor children.
Many senators seemed distracted by the fierce debate about the budget agreement of the Republicans to avert a government closure, and they stormed the hearing of Dr. Oz inside and out. But he is ready to sail through the Senate for confirmation as the next manager of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an desk with $ 1.5 trillion in expenditure.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts, made a lot of his financial conflicts before the hearing. But during the session she did not press him on those issues. Instead, she focused on his views on whether private medicine plans charge the government too much, an area where they and Dr. Oz seemed to be about the need to tackle potential fraud and waste.
During the hearing he showed an easy knowledge of various relevant agency problems, although he repeatedly returned to stock answers that he should study the subject more.
Various legislators, mainly Democrats, tried Dr. Oz to force his views to express the goals of the Trump government to cut the costs of health care and budgets of freedom of choice, but he repeatedly circumvented those minefields.
“It is our patriotic duty to be healthy,” he told senators. “It costs a lot of money to take care of sick people who are sick because of lifestyle choices.”
This chorus is in line with the Make America Remory Reme movement by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the expectant boss of Dr. Oz if he is confirmed.
Medicare benefit and privatization
Introductory comments from Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat van Oregon, kept a first promise of some challenging questions. He accused Dr. OZ in recent years almost $ 500,000 in social security and medicine taxes by avoiding a tax exemption with regard to limited partnerships, something that Democrats concluded after the tax returns of Dr. Oz. But there were no follow -up questions about it.
Mr. Wyden also raised the ghost that he was Dr. OZ would grill on its connection with TZ Insurance Solutions, a company with a profit motive that sells Medicare Advantage plans to older Americans. Dr. OZ has been a ruthless promoter of these private plans, which have been criticized by legislators and supervisors for systemic overbilling and refusal of patients, on his show and YouTube channel.
Dr. OZ, 64, is also a registered broker for TZ insurance in states throughout the country, according to a recent study into his finances through the New York Times. Again, Mr. Wyden marked the issue and did not follow.
Despite the concern of Democrats that Dr. OZ probably would reverse part of the rules that are meant to start the plans, he was in need of strong supervision instead. He acknowledged that some of the brokers who now sold these plans were 'policy', and transfer people from one plan to the other, regardless of whether the coverage change benefited them.
“Part of this is just acknowledging that there is a new sheriff in the city,” said Dr. Oz. “We actually have to go behind places and areas where we do not manage the money of American people properly.”
Several times in the hearing, Dr. OZ Bipartisan -delivering addressed about whether Medicare Advantage plans are paid too much. In response to questions from a fellow doctor, senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, Dr. OZ a study that suggests that the federal government spends more on the private alternative for Medicare than the program run by the government. “It's upside down,” he said.
“We have to investigate whether part of the money should be reimbursed to the American people,” said Dr. Oz.
He also showed an interest in solving part of the two -part concern about the use by insurers of prior authorization for approving medical procedures by reducing the number of services that could be revised.
Republican plans to cut medicaid
Democrats seemed the most frustrated by the position of Dr. OZ compared to Medicaid, the state federal program that covers 72 million Americans with a low income. “All my colleagues want to know, are you going to cut Medicaid?” asked Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat van Washington.
But Dr. Oz, who did not talk much about the program that he would also see as head of the desk, did not answer immediately. He said that he did not know the details of the Republican budget discussions, in which legislators look at hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts that could lead to loss of coverage by people because it became more difficult to register and to bear more states of the burden.
When the Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat from Georgia, questioned about the Republican efforts to add monthly paperwork to show that they should get benefits, Dr. Oz that he preferred to limit the work requirements that Republicans are eligible. But he agreed with the senator that they ensure that people who were eligible for Medicaid were not cut off.
Dr. OZ and his supplement company
There were other topics that Senators seemed to be sailing away. Dr. For example, OZ has earned tens of millions of dollars over the years to promote nutritional supplements, often without any reporting of his financial interest. He was paid for by numerous medical and health agencies for presenting their products. Many of those companies would be affected by all the decisions he would make as manager for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and many already benefit from financing agencies.
Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat from New Hampshire, asked him to set a dollar figure on exactly what he made by promoting supplements in his TV program during the day. He said he got nothing. He started to explain that Sony Pictures spread the show, and that it was the entity paid by these companies (which in turn paid him), but he was cut off. In the end, Mrs. Hassan was unable to extract something meaningful from him and continued.
Patient privacy and the infringement of the doge
During the hearing, Mr. Wyden penetrated Dr. OZ under the access to the so -called department of the government efficiency of Elon Musk for the private medical information of Americans. Mr. Wyden brought concern about the need to protect the privacy of people, given the potential capacity of the department to view personal health and medical data. Despite his repeated questions, he said, the Trump administration had not tackled those worries so far. Surprisingly, Dr. said Oz that he had no discussions with the administration about what the team of Mr. Musk did while the agency information inspected, but he promised to “tackle what's going on.”
Measles
The outbreak of measles in Texas and New Mexico has increased the concerns and has reassembled considerable criticism of Mr. Kennedy and the Trump administration. Senator Ben Ray Luján, Democrat van New Mexico, asked Dr. Oz or he believed that the measles vaccine was safe. Dr. Oz said he did that, but when the senator followed by asking if it was effective, Dr. OZ a step back and said that assessing individual vaccines and their recommendations for use would not be under its competence, but under those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“My job, if confirmed, is to ensure that we pay for those vaccines,” he said.
