Welch garners pledge from Oz to address excessive pricing from insurance companies
WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) questioned Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Trump’s nominee to be the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that provides health care to over 100 million Americans. Senator Welch pressed Dr. Oz about how the Trump Administration plans to eliminate rip-offs for patients and tackle excessive pricing in private equity and Medicare Advantage to help lower prescription drug prices.
“The big concern I have about our health care system is it costs too much. It’s a real disgrace that we spend the most and get the least. So, many other countries—with all the problems they may have with their health care system—citizens are not anxious about whether they can afford the care that they need. Here, that’s not the case. And one of the big problems is that private equity, pharmaceutical pricing power, device manufacture pricing power, consolidation in the industry—all of this has made the cost of health care brutal. It’s brutal on taxpayers, it’s brutal on employers…we just can’t afford this,” said Senator Welch.
“My expectation is you’d be able to come in in six months, let’s say, and report on whether there is progress on all of these things: Squeezing out the rip-off in private equity, squeezing out the rip-off in Medicare Advantage, and having lower drug prices.”
Watch the exchange between Senator Welch and Mehmet Oz, President Trump’s pick for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:
Read excerpts of Senator Welch’s questioning below:
Sen. Welch: I believe a major responsibility that you would have in your job would be to fight the excessive charging…In his first term, President Trump said he favored a reference price for drugs. So, you know, we’re paying three, four, five times for the same drug that they buy in Canada or in Europe. Would you support reference pricing so that we don’t get ripped off compared to everybody else, even though we do the research?
Dr. Oz: President Trump has been very clear that he wants me to reduce drug prices, not just for the government payees, but also for beneficiaries. International reference pricing is a way of doing that.
Sen. Welch: Here’s what I think we all need: We have got to get a fair price. And it’s not a fair price when we’re paying six or seven times what they’re paying for the same thing in France, or in Canada, or wherever else, okay? So, I’m just going to stop here but say that is absolutely top of mind. President Trump has indicated a concern about this, and I hope you follow through.
Second, Medicare Advantage—it sounds good, but it’s an incredible rip-off in some cases…It’s going to be your job to crack down on that. Are you going have any tolerance for that kind of rip-off from our insurance companies?
Dr. Oz: No. I think you have identified a place where a system which was, in theory, a good one—Medicare Advantage is a community health-focused effort…
Sen. Welch: I understand that. I don’t mean to interrupt, but I just want to stay on this. We cannot afford to have the health care system be taken over for private profit when it doesn’t provide good service at an affordable price for our citizens. Do you agree with that?
Dr. Oz: I agree, and I think that the upcoding in Medicare Advantage programs has become the best example of this out there and it is something that is addressable. And I pledge, if confirmed, I will go after it.
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