Dr. Mehmet Oz, recently confirmed as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), told NewsNation that President Donald Trump told him to “love and cherish” the government health services.
In an interview Monday on NewsNation, Dr. Oz stressed that Trump told him repeatedly that he must protect critical health programs, but at the same time, move decisively to eliminate fraud and waste.
Dr. Oz defended the Trump administration in the interview, saying the priorities are viable health care first and eliminating waste second. To that end, Oz said government investigators have uncovered “billions” of potential fraud and state program incentives that may be improperly lined up with the federal government’s umbrella health care programs. “We must make these programs strong. This is not about politics, this is about patriotism.”
Oz said some of the CMS spending under scrutiny isn’t hard to categorize. “We spent $200 million in the last term of CMS last year on housekeeping services, $10 million on public unions, child care services, another $10 million on student loans. These aren’t related to taking care of our most vulnerable.”
CMS is a department within U.S. Health and Human Services, which is run by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Oz and Kennedy posted a joint release on their vision for the future of U.S. health care which includes, “Shifting the paradigm for health care from a system that focuses on sick care to one that fosters prevention, wellness, and chronic disease management. For example, CMS operates many programs that can be used to focus on improving holistic health outcomes.”
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