Senator Marshall to CMS Administrator Nominee Dr. Oz: We’re Not Going to Save Medicare and Medicaid Unless We Make America Healthy Again

Washington – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) participated in the confirmation hearing today for President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, in the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. 

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a world-class heart surgeon and would be the first doctor at the helm of CMS in more than a decade. He knows the health care system inside and out, as he’s lived it throughout his career, starting with a joint M.D.-MBA education. Having invented life-saving devices, hosted a successful TV show, and touched the lives of millions of patients across the nation, Dr. Oz brings a much-needed perspective to Make America Healthy Again.

Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall’s full line of questioning.

Highlights from Dr. Oz’s confirmation hearing include: 

On Dr. Oz’s background: 

Senator Marshall: “Why did you go into medicine? And what are some of the highlights or the most rewarding parts of your career?”

Dr. Oz: “I don’t think there’s a joy greater than looking a patient in the eyes and recognizing that you’re there for each other, that nothing will get in the way of you providing the best care possible. It’s not that there won’t ever be problems, but you’ll be there emotionally supporting them.

“And if you’ve been gifted with teachers, as I was, that could educate me about how to take care of patients, you get to watch them get better and feel a joy inside your heart that can’t be matched in another field…

“I think it’s why I went into medicine, because I saw my father go into the hospital and do things like putting needles in people, which looks painful, but the patients would smile and thank him for it, paradoxically. 

“And that’s why I think it’s also appropriate for physicians, as you have.. and other physicians on this committee, Dr. Cassidy, to enter government, because we’re trained to tell people things that they need to hear but aren’t pleasant, but that’s how you get the system to work better.” 

On Dr. Oz’s prescription to Make America Healthy Again: 

Senator Marshall: “My grandma always said, if you have your health, you have everything. And America doesn’t have her health right now. 60% of us have a chronic disease. Several people pointed out this country is spending multiples more than other countries do to take care of our sick.

“There’s not enough sick care out there to save Medicare and Medicaid.

“You and I came here to save Medicare and Medicaid, but part of that is making America healthy again, so that we don’t have to do as many heart bypasses and give as much insulin and diabetic drugs. 

“What is your prescription for America? How do you work with Medicare and Medicaid patients to help America become healthy again?”

Dr. Oz: “The deeper promise that we should all be making to America is we’re going to make it easy for America to do the right thing when it comes to their health. Some of these decisions are not difficult. Some of them need to be simplified, and some of them need to be reminded frequently.

“Senator Wyden and I had spoken about this a little bit, the idea of giving incentives to patients is an idea that I think is a worthy one, especially for Medicaid beneficiaries. If people don’t feel like it matters what they do, if they don’t think they have agency over their future… then they’re not going to take proactive steps to reduce their diabetes or another action that would dramatically reduce their life expectancy and their cost to the health care system. 

“There’s a lot of opportunity for us to do this, and we should be innovative and explore ideas. And I think there’s an ecosystem we can build together to engender that kind of enthusiasm from people on the outside of medicine who want to make it better. We have got to challenge the incumbents and the system to have new ideas bubble to the top so we can pick the winners based on competition.”

Senator Marshall: “We’re not going to save Medicare and Medicaid unless we Make America Healthy Again.”

On maternal care, how to save Medicare and Medicaid:

Senator Marshall: “I’m going to talk just a second about maternal care. I came to this body, the other side of the Capitol, and people were talking about maternal mortality then. We were seeing a big spike in it. And I asked people, “Why? What? How come?” And we didn’t have an answer.

“… And not surprising to me, the number one killer of pregnant women that delivered that year after is actually suicide and fentanyl poisoning, overdose. We don’t need to study it more. We need action, early access to prenatal care to be the other action point as well…

“Half of our patients, half the patients I delivered, were Medicaid patients. They need access to care, and we also need to stop the flow of fentanyl.

“My last question though, speak briefly to how price tags and health care savings accounts turn patients into consumers again, and how that might actually help save Medicare and Medicaid?”

Dr. Oz: “There’s a lot we can do with health savings accounts. We could even investigate new ways of using them. Maybe they should be part of your estate and passed on to your children, because so many families don’t really have anything to pass on. 

“It would incentivize behaviors even at the end of life. But I think there’s an opportunity for us to give consumerism, give the power of the purse back to the American people, especially if they’re beneficiaries on Medicare, and let them make the wisest decisions they can.

“They got to that age by making some good decisions, and so we might as well let them keep going.”