Business meeting to consider the nomination of Mehmet Oz, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Committee on Finance

2025-03-25

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This meeting focused on the nominations of Dr. Oz to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Frank Bisignano to the Social Security Administration (SSA), with senators expressing both strong support and deep concerns regarding their qualifications and the potential impact of their policies. The discussions highlighted fundamental disagreements over the future direction of federal healthcare programs and Social Security benefits.

Themes

Dr. Oz's Nomination and Medicaid Concerns

Senator Crapo supported Dr. Oz's nomination, citing his extensive experience as a physician and public health advocate, which he believes makes him uniquely qualified to manage CMS and modernize federal healthcare programs. [ 00:20:22-00:20:53 ] Crapo noted Dr. Oz's vision for superb care access, fixing clinician payment systems, and reforming pharmaceutical benefit managers. [ 00:20:53 ] Conversely, several Democratic senators, including Wyden, Cantwell, Hassan, Warnock, and Smith, strongly opposed Dr. Oz's nomination, primarily due to his perceived unwillingness to explicitly commit to protecting Medicaid from potential cuts. They warned of "massive cuts" to Medicaid proposed in the House budget, which would severely impact vulnerable populations such as children, seniors in nursing homes, and individuals with disabilities. Concerns were also raised about Dr. Oz's alleged dodging of questions during his hearing and his past role as a "salesman for Medicare Advantage," which some viewed as a conflict of interest in regulating middlemen.

Frank Bisignano's Nomination and Social Security Administration (SSA) Service Delivery

Frank Bisignano received strong support from Republican senators for his nomination to lead the SSA, with members like Crapo, Marshall, Johnson, and Barrasso emphasizing his extensive private sector experience in finance and payment processing as ideal for modernizing the agency. [ 01:07:04-01:07:14 ]

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 Bisignano committed to improving customer service, reducing the "1% error rate" in payments to "five decimal points to the right," and optimizing the SSA's operations. He highlighted the need for a multi-channel approach to service delivery, including improving phone wait times and utilizing technology like AI to enhance efficiency. [ 01:42:46-01:43:16 ]

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 However, Democratic senators, including Wyden, Whitehouse, Hassan, Cortez Masto, Sanders, Cantwell, Warren, Lujan, Smith, and Warnock, raised significant concerns about the current state of the SSA, attributing problems to the "Doge" (Department of Government Efficiency) initiative and Elon Musk's influence. [ 01:10:02-01:11:19 ]

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 They pointed to issues such as mass layoffs, staff shortages, office closures, long phone wait times, and risks to beneficiary data security. [ 01:10:23 ]

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 Senators pressed Bisignano for clear commitments to protect data, maintain service levels, and reject any attempts to cut benefits or privatize Social Security, expressing skepticism about his claimed non-involvement in prior "Doge" decisions.

Tone of the Meeting

The meeting had a contentious and polarized tone, with a clear partisan divide in perspectives. Democratic senators expressed alarm and opposition, using pointed questions to highlight potential threats to federal programs and individual beneficiaries. [ 01:09:54 ]

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 They frequently accused the administration and nominees of undermining essential services and pursuing policies that would harm vulnerable populations. Conversely, Republican senators offered strong support, praising the nominees' qualifications and commitment to efficiency and strengthening the programs. [ 00:20:22-00:20:48 ] [ 01:02:30-01:02:56 ]

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 They often framed the criticisms as "scare tactics" and emphasized the importance of modernization and fiscal responsibility. [ 01:02:30 ]

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[ 01:03:51 ]

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 The exchanges were direct and often confrontational, particularly regarding the influence of "Doge" and Elon Musk on the SSA.

Participants

Transcript

As we have done with other nominees, this meeting this morning will provide members with the opportunity to make remarks on Dr. Oz's nomination.  We will notify members of a time and location later today to conduct the vote.  Dr. Oz has years of experience as an acclaimed physician and public health advocate.  His background makes him uniquely qualified to manage the intricacies of CMS.   At his hearing, Dr. Oz discussed his vision to ensure CMS provides Americans with access to superb care, especially our most vulnerable patients.  I look forward to working with him, if confirmed, to accomplish this goal.  I was also encouraged to hear that he will focus on modernizing federal health care programs, work to fix our broken clinician payment system, and will partner with Congress to achieve pharmaceutical benefit manager reform.   There is no doubt that Dr. Oz will work tirelessly to deliver much needed change at CMS.  I will be voting in favor of his nomination, and I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same.  I now recognize Ranking Member Wyden for his remarks.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.  Later today, we're going to vote on the Oz nomination.  I'm just going to spend a few minutes describing why I can't support the nomination.  During his confirmation hearing, Dr. Oz was given the chance to assure the American people that he would not be a rubber stamp for Republican plans to gut Medicaid and hike Affordable Care Act premiums.   At every turn, he failed the test.  When I asked him a yes or no question about whether he would protect Medicaid, he dodged, he weaved, he simply wouldn't answer.  That's a stark contrast to what I heard at town hall meetings open to all in Oregon the past week.  In Oregon City, I was joined by Patty and Katina, a mom and a daughter who count on Medicaid to help with Katina's medical expenses.   Because of Medicaid, Katina can thrive in the community as an Oregonian who lives with Down syndrome.  There are countless other families in Oregon and across the country who are terrified of these cuts.  Mr. Dr. Oz also ducked a number of my other questions.  When pressed on whether nurses belong in nursing homes, he replied, that was a complicated question.   I just found that a jaw dropper.  It isn't complicated for the rest of us whether nursing homes ought to have adequate staff to take your mom to the bathroom or give your grandpa meals.  I told Dr. Oz it was pretty simple.   Not only did the nominee dodge and weave during questioning at his confirmation hearing, he also failed to provide factual responses to our written questions submitted after the hearing.  This lack of responsiveness to Congress ought to be unacceptable to every member of our committee.  But the Republican majority once again seems eager to disregard their own congressional oversight responsibilities when Donald Trump calls the shots.
I'll once again state that Dr. Oz is the second Trump nominee to come before this committee with a record of dodging Medicare and Social Security taxes.  Nurses and firefighters across America pay taxes with every single hard-earned paycheck, but the multimillionaire nominated to run Medicare can't be bothered to do the same thing.   This is a continuation of our efforts to spotlight health care middlemen that, in my view, are leeching off the health care system at the expense of taxpayers and seniors.  Our investigation found that too many for-profit insurance companies are spending billions of taxpayer dollars   on marketing middlemen to drown seniors in calls and mailers.  These tactics are designed to pressure them into enrolling in private health plans that might not even cover their preferred doctor or medicines, or that may put up unexpected roadblocks to getting the care they need.  Insurance companies and these marketing middlemen have orchestrated a complex   and complicated system to line the pockets of shareholders by raising costs for seniors and taxpayers and invading oversight and accountability.   Given Dr. Oz's history of basically acting as a salesman for Medicare Advantage, putting him in charge of regulating these middlemen is almost like letting the fox guard the proverbial hen house.  The bottom line is that American tax dollars are in too many instances being used by profit insurance companies for shady marketing practices that take advantage of older people.   For-profit insurance companies spend five times more on marketing and administrative expenses than traditional Medicare, which is, of course, run by the government.
If Elon Musk and his cronies at Doge actually cared about targeting waste and fraud, they'd be focused on waste and Medicare Advantage rather than targeting Americans' hard-earned Social Security.   We've successfully fought for more consumer protections against predatory MA marketing, and I asked Dr. Adj to pledge not to roll those protections back.  He may be open to our concerns on that, and if he's confirmed, I'm going to hold him to that and watchdog this issue, spotlighting abuses.  But the bottom line, colleagues, is that this is an ability who has shown to a nominee who has shown no ability   to or interest in pushing back on the dangerous Trump health care agenda.  I urge my colleagues to vote no.
Thank you, Senator Wyden.  We will now turn to any senator wanting to make a statement.  I ask each of you who do choose to make a statement to keep your remarks to three minutes or less so we can keep on time for our Social Security nominee.   Senator Catwell, you're next.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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