Dr. Mehmet Oz committed to “clean up the system” that was previously running the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Oz was confirmed to head the agency last month, just as the Republican Party was musing on how to retool Medicaid to save costs without affecting the beneficiaries of the service. There remain a variety of plans from the Senate that have yet to pass. The House, however, passed its own reconciliation legislation last week that included Medicaid reform, but according to Oz, every plan Republicans have put forth is dedicated to “increasing the amount of money we are spending on Medicaid.”
“We do have to support Americans who are most vulnerable,” Oz told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “That stated, we have to make the program sustainable. We have to protect it.”
“There’s much we can do as a country. It’s a shared responsibility. We have to do it together. But the buck stops here. We’ve got to clean up the system,” Oz said. “We’re not paying $200 million for housekeeping anymore a year. We’re not going to pay for illegal immigrants in states that are submitting those claims. Why should people living in Mississippi, Texas, or Florida be paying for illegal immigrants getting healthcare in California?”
.@DrOzCMS: “Why should people living in Mississippi or Texas or Florida be paying for illegal immigrants getting health care in California?” pic.twitter.com/b7HqkYEwat
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 25, 2025
According to a report from the the Government Accountability Office, improper payments cost upwards of $50 billion just in 2023. Over ten years a cost like this could add up to more than $500 billion.
“As a nation, we need to be aligned to help this work,” Oz said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is among others warning that tax legislation within the reconciliation bill is an attempt to “enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history.”
STEPHEN MILLER PROMISES ‘REVENUE BOOM’ WILL FOLLOW ‘BIGGEST AND BOLDEST’ TAX CUTS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it will no longer give states federal dollars to fund portions of their Medicaid programs that have nothing to do with providing health services to low-income Americans, such as internet services and housekeeping.
Medicaid provides health insurance coverage to about 79 million Americans and costs $584 billion in only federal dollars in 2024.
