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.
Comments