Mehmet Oz largely dodged Democratic attempts to pin him down on Medicaid cuts at his Senate Finance confirmation hearing on Friday, while making a notable pledge to crack down on certain insurer practices in Medicare Advantage.
Why it matters: With HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy mostly focused on public health issues, there are many unanswered questions about how the new administration will run the two giant health programs, as well as the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Here are five takeaways on what Oz revealed.
1) No specific pledges on Medicaid cuts
Oz declined to provide a yes or no answer when asked by Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden if he supported Medicaid cuts.
- "I cherish Medicaid," he said, echoing President Trump's remarks. But he added: "The way you protect Medicaid is by making sure that it's viable."
- He also cast some doubt on the ACA's expansion of Medicaid, saying "for some states it made sense, for some it didn't," and adding that he supported work requirements.
- "When you expand the number of people on Medicaid ... you stretch the resources very thinly for the people for whom Medicaid was originally designed," he said in response to questioning from GOP Sen. Ron Johnson.
2) Raised some eyebrows on Medicare Advantage
For someone who in 2020 called for "Medicare Advantage for All," Oz had some notable criticism of insurer practices in MA.
- The U.S. is "paying more for Medicare Advantage than we're paying for regular Medicare, so it's upside down," Oz said, pointing to "upcoding," a practice in which insurers categorize patients as sicker in order to get higher payments.
- "I pledge if confirmed, I will go after it," he said.
3) He'll "defend" and "use" drug price negotiations
There are a lot of questions about how the Trump administration will handle Medicare drug price negotiations under Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act.
- Oz avoided specifics of how he would carry out talks, but said "it's the law, I'm going to defend it and use it."
- Medicare negotiation is "one of many approaches I want to use" to lower drug prices, he added.
4) Changes for prior authorization
Oz noted there are a lot of complaints about prior authorization in Medicare Advantage, which he said could be streamlined and is a "pox on the system."
- He floated limiting the number of procedures subject to prior authorization by insurers at 1,000, and said reviews should happen more rapidly, including through the use of AI tools.
- "A credit card approval doesn't take you three months," he said.
5) More info about DOGE cuts
Democrats have been scrutinizing the effect of layoffs and privacy issues under Elon Musk's DOGE. Oz parried questions, saying he has not been involved so far and will know more if he's confirmed.
- He said he plans to be "speaking to the staff, raising morale, getting people excited."
- Sen. Thom Tillis raised concern about having "two different bosses" at CMS, alluding to DOGE, while noting the efficiency effort "makes a lot of sense."
- "I'm a heart surgeon, you don't go to the OR with two surgeons," Oz agreed.
