'I Cannot Support This Nomination': Maria Cantwell Lambasts Dr. Oz

2 days ago

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke about the nomination of Dr. Oz to run CMS.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator Wyden. We will now turn to any senator wanting to make a statement.

00:04I ask each of you who do choose to make a statement to keep your remarks to three minutes

00:08or less so we can keep on time for our Social Security nominee. Senator Catwell, you're

00:14next.

00:15Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm speaking about this pivotal vote today because I want to

00:18be clear about the devastating impacts that Medicaid will have on our constituents. That

00:23is included in the House Republican budget. While I appreciate Dr. Oz's willingness to

00:28consider some interesting and important reforms like PBMs or the basic health plan, he was

00:34unwilling to commit to opposing a cut to Medicaid. The math is clear. The proposal from the House

00:40budget would require massive cuts to Medicaid. And I appreciate that my Republican Senate

00:46colleagues know this, and which is why it's not in their particular proposal. But now

00:51we have to fight the negotiations between the House and the Senate and hold our colleagues

00:57accountable to protect this important program. I know Dr. Oz won't. He wouldn't commit.

01:03He would not say no, and certainly not no to Donald Trump or Elon Musk or to the House

01:09of Representatives. The House committee that oversees Medicaid and Medicare is responsible

01:14for funding $880 billion from these cuts. So you can see from this chart, the only real

01:20place to get this, particularly if Medicare is off the table, is from Medicaid. Even if

01:27the committee completely eliminated every single other program in the E&C account, it

01:32still gives them one-sixth of what they need. So make no mistake, there is no other way

01:38to meet this mandate but then to impact Medicaid. My colleagues who are trying to play down

01:43this threat or act like there's some other way around it, it's just not so. It's either

01:49bad math or bad faith. Anyone who is telling their constituents is just not being honest

01:55with them. Last week I spoke in my state, in Seattle, Spokane and Tri-Cities about these

02:01Medicaid cuts and was joined by physicians, hospital providers, patients who do not want

02:07to shoulder this burden. A patient like Gail Halverson from Spokane who was terrified that

02:13the system that provided her and her late partner who just passed with affordable health

02:17care will no longer be there for them. She told me, quote, who's going to pay for the

02:24nursing home? That's Medicare and Medicaid. So are we just going to be left to die? End

02:30quote. Harborview, a medical center in Seattle with the most advanced trauma care in the

02:36region receives 39% of their revenue from Medicaid. The CEO told me that the cut of

02:41this magnitude would be existential. So everyone knows that this issue is on the table and

02:48yet we don't have a nominee before us who will say clearly he doesn't plan to cut Medicaid.

02:55According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicaid-related expenditures account for 93%

03:01of the non-Medicare spending in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The lion's

03:05share will absolutely have to come from Medicaid. It's time to now get a nominee who would support

03:12that. That is not Dr. Oz. So with this tsunami of cuts that we're looking at, I cannot support

03:18this nomination. I hope my colleagues will turn it down as well. And I hope our colleagues

03:22will join us in a fight to say no cuts to Medicaid. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

'I Cannot Support This Nomination': Maria Cantwell Lambasts Dr. Oz

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