Ahead of Final Vote, Wyden Urges Colleagues to Reject Oz Nomination, Protect Medicaid
Watch a video of Wyden deliver his remarks here
As Prepared for Delivery
Ahead of the Senate’s final vote on the nomination of Dr. Mehmet Oz to head up the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, I’d like to remind my colleagues exactly what’s at stake with this vote.
Dr. Oz is the second Trump nominee to pass through the Finance Committee this year with a record of dodging Medicare and Social Security taxes. That means, if confirmed, the person running the Medicare program thinks it’s acceptable to not pay the taxes he owes into the programs he’s running.
At his confirmation hearing, I pressed Dr. Oz on whether he believes nursing homes should be staffed with a registered nurse 24/7. Once again, Dr. Oz refused to answer my question, claiming it was a complicated question. An AI chatbot paid for by private equity isn’t going to take your mom to the bathroom, or bring your grandpa his meals every day. I don’t think it’s all that complicated whether there ought to be a nurse on staff at every single nursing home. Dr. Oz is great on TV, but seems to have no understanding that technology is no replacement for real nurses and medical staff.
That attitude is going to have a real impact as Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress pursue nearly one trillion in Medicaid cuts to achieve their billionaire tax breaks, which House Republicans have already passed.
Several weeks ago, Senate Republicans confirmed one of Trump’s most unqualified and dangerous nominees to date – RFK Jr. – to head up Americans’ health care at HHS. Now our country is facing the biggest measles outbreak in decades while the Trump Administration touts the benefits of cod liver oil and convinces parents not to vaccinate their kids. The country has heard tragic tales of families following RFK Jr.’s advice on unproven, alternative treatments for measles that end up sending children to the hospital. And just this week, he abruptly fired more than 10,000 public health workers, many of whom reportedly help seniors navigate insurance plans when they’re denied care, or provide oversight over nursing homes.
Everything this administration is doing is an effort to make you and your family less healthy and less safe. Dr. Oz is yet another slick salesman peddling unproven cures and treatments, and encouraging people to ignore proven facts and science.
The dangers of promoting unqualified wellness grifters to be in charge of health care in our country aren’t just talking points, they’re real, and they’re deadly. This week, Trump and Senate Republicans are gearing up to pass their massive tax giveaway to billionaires and corporations. They’re paying for it by gutting Medicaid and cutting off the services that millions of Americans rely on. Food stamps, Meals on Wheels, and Head Start are all on the chopping block, just so billionaires can buy more yachts and G-Wagons.
These cuts to Medicaid will be devastating for kids and people with disabilities. It will destroy care in nursing homes as we know it. It will rip basic care away from seniors and kids. Dr. Oz will be responsible for executing the destruction brought down on the Medicaid program by the cuts Republicans are preparing to make, and the premium hikes for everyone else who gets their insurance through the marketplace when Republicans take away tax credits that lower their premiums.
During his confirmation hearing, I gave Dr. Oz the opportunity to go on the record and reassure the American people that he wouldn’t go along with the Republican scheme to rip away health care.
He refused.
I also asked Dr. Oz, if, once confirmed, he would travel to Malheur County in my home state. It’s an overwhelmingly rural and red county, and it also has the most Medicaid recipients of any county in Oregon. Dr. Oz agreed to come to Malheur County and explain Trump’s catastrophic cuts face-to-face with Oregonians. I’m going to hold him to that. Oz will have to answer to the people of Oregon and Malheur County.
Republicans are full steam ahead with their plans to gut Americans’ health care, and put for-profit insurance companies and private equity firms in charge of America’s health care system.
So what’s at stake with today’s vote?
What’s at stake is whether your aging parents can remain in their nursing home.
What’s at stake is whether your kids can get to see a doctor.
What’s at stake is the very health and well-being of your family.
By supporting Dr. Oz’s nomination, Republicans are sending a very clear message that they are more afraid of Trump than having to answer to their own constituents. Every member of this body that votes to confirm Dr. Oz will own the consequences of that decision.
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