At Friday’s Senate Finance committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock questioned Dr. Oz, President Trump’s nominee to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Senator Reverend Warnock put Dr. Oz on record as supporting Medicaid access for Georgians caught in the health care gap as the state readies to apply for an extension
The state’s renewal application comes at a moment when the Trump Administration and Hill Republicans are threatening major slashes in funding for health care programs that largely support low-income families and children
Senator Reverend Warnock: “You’ll never get any pushback from me about the value of a work ethic and the purpose that work provides, which is why I think people ought to have health care so they can get back to work. Very often they can’t get back to work in Georgia because they can’t get the health care”
Watch Senator Reverend Warnock at Friday’s CMS nominee hearing HERE
Washington, D.C. – Today, during a Senate Finance committee hearing on the nomination of Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) put Dr. Oz on the record as supporting Medicaid access for Georgians caught in the health care gap. As CMS Administrator, Dr. Oz will be responsible for approving the Georgia Pathways waiver, which is due to be extended.
“You’ll never get any pushback from me about the value of a work ethic and the purpose that work provides, which is why I think people ought to have health care so they can get back to work. Very often they can’t get back to work in Georgia because they can’t get the health care,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “Let me give you an example. There is a woman in Dalton, Georgia that I got to know a while ago, her name is Heather Payne. […] She was among those folks who were in the gap. She couldn’t afford private insurance, but she wasn’t poor enough to get conventional Medicaid. So her health challenges and the unpredictable nature of her work as a traveling nurse made it impossible for her to meet George’s onerous work verification requirements to get Medicaid. She found out she had had a series of strokes. She had to save the money to see a neurologist, and then she found out she’d had a series of strokes. Took a long time to be able to afford to go and now she’s in the gap, and she can’t meet Georgia’s onerous work requirements. Do you think Heather Payne, a traveling nurse who spent her career providing health care to others, do you think she deserves Medicaid or not?”
Dr. Oz replied, “Yes.”
“I agree with you. And since we agree, I think that the Medicaid waiver that you will be responsible for reviewing, in fact, I know it, it says that Heather does not deserve Medicaid,” said Senator Reverend Warnock.
The state has already started the process of applying for an extension and comes at a moment when the Trump Administration and Hill Republicans are threatening major slashes in funding for health care programs that largely support low-income families and children.
“Georgia’s Pathways to coverage is a roadblock to care. They’ve gotten, I don’t know, 6,000 people, I think the last time I checked. And we got over 500,000 people in the gap. So I’m gonna give you a softball if you are confirmed, will you work with me and will you keep Amanda and Heather in mind as you consider whether or not to renew Georgia’s waiver–which I think is filled with unnecessary and onerous work requirements, paperwork, filling out paperwork every single month–will you keep these two people in mind?” Senator Reverend Warnock asked.
“Heather and Amanda should be in all of our minds and many others like them. I look forward to working with you,” Dr. Oz replied.
If confirmed, Oz would take over the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which provides health coverage to more than 100 million people through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace, and manages a budget of $1.5 trillion. About a quarter of all federal spending runs through CMS, and Oz would take over the institution at a moment when Washington Republicans are threatening major slashes in funding for health care.
Watch the Senator’s full remarks HERE.
See below a transcript of key exchanges between Senator Warnock and CMS nominee Mehmet Oz (remarks have been lightly edited for clarity):
Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “My home state of Georgia is not only one of only ten states in the country that has still not expanded Medicaid, it also has the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country where the limited number of families who do qualify for Medicaid are required to regularly complete bureaucratic paperwork to prove they’re still working the minimum number of hours to get health care. State officials call it ‘Georgia Pathways to Coverage’. I call it ‘Georgia Pathways to Nowhere.’ The program is allowed under the state’s Medicaid waiver, which is up for renewal this year. And if confirmed as head of CMS, you would be responsible for approving or denying the state’s application to renew these onerous paperwork requirements. Dr. Oz, I’m not going to ask you to prejudge the state’s renewal application; that wouldn’t be fair, you need to see it. But since you’d oversee Medicaid if confirmed, yes or no, do you believe families should have to complete government paperwork every single month to prove they are working just to get health care when they’re sick?”
Mehmet Oz (MO): “I am in favor of work requirements.”
SRW: “Do you think a family should have to fill out paperwork every month just to get health care?”
MO: “I don’t think you need to use paperwork to prove work requirements, and I don’t think that should be used as an obstacle, disingenuous effort to block people from getting on Medicaid. However, I believe we would both probably agree that there’s value in work, and it doesn’t have to be going to a job. It could be getting an education, it should be showing that you want to contribute to society. You could volunteer at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where I did a show with you once, that would, for me, fulfill the requirement.”
SRW: “You’ll never get any pushback from me about the value of a work ethic and the purpose that work provides, which is why I think people ought to have health care so they can get back to work. Very often they can’t get back to work in Georgia because they can’t get the health care. Let me give you an example. There is a woman in Dalton, Georgia that I got to know a while ago, her name is Heather Payne. She’s a traveling nurse. And you know, as a traveling nurse, some jobs were better than others. Sometimes she had health care, sometimes she didn’t. She was among those folks who were in the gap. She couldn’t afford private insurance, but she wasn’t poor enough to get conventional Medicaid. So her health challenges and the unpredictable nature of her work as a traveling nurse made it impossible for her to meet George’s onerous work verification requirements to get Medicaid. She found out she had had a series of strokes. She had to save the money to see a neurologist, and then she found out she’d had a series of strokes. Took a long time to be able to afford to go and now she’s in the gap, and she can’t meet Georgia’s onerous work requirements. Do you think Heather Payne, a traveling nurse who spent her career providing health care to others, do you think she deserves Medicaid or not?”
MO: “Yes.”
SRW: “Thank you. I agree with you. And since we agree, I think that the Medicaid waiver that you will be responsible for reviewing, in fact, I know it, it says that Heather does not deserve Medicaid.”
[…]
SRW: “Let me tell you about another Georgian. Amanda left her two jobs in New York and moved to Warner Robins to become a full-time caregiver for her 84-year-old father, Thomas. Taking care of her father has become a full-time responsibility for Amanda. He’s 84 years old. She’s taking care of him, which means he is not in a nursing home. She’s taken on that responsibility. But with all of this, she does not have time to hold a full-time job that meets the state’s strict work requirements, and she has no income to cover her own health costs should she get sick. Dr. Oz, do you think Amanda deserves Medicaid?”
MO: “From what you are describing, yes. These are the opportunities we have to make the system better. If we both agree that people should be trying to get off Medicaid, if they can, we should be able to create a system where we can track that, because there’s the twin paradox, which I think we touched on in the office. Two brothers are at home, one’s working every day, flipping burgers, making minimum wage. Maybe he’s cobbling together 16, $17,000, puts them right above the poverty level. And the other brother doesn’t bother working because he’ll have the exact same coverage if he doesn’t work. We want to make both of them want to move up the ladder, like every small businessman. What’s their goal? To become a big businessman.”
SRW: “You and I have the basis for meaningful conversation. Georgia’s Pathways to coverage is a roadblock to care. They’ve gotten, I don’t know, 6,000 people, I think the last time I checked. And we got over 500,000 people in the gap. So I’m gonna give you a softball if you are confirmed, will you work with me and will you keep Amanda and Heather in mind as you consider whether or not to renew Georgia’s waiver–which I think is filled with unnecessary and onerous work requirements, paperwork, filling out paperwork every single month–will you keep these two people in mind?”
MO: “Heather and Amanda should be in all of our minds and many others like them. I look forward to working with you.”
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