Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Dr. Mehmet Oz | CMS Administrator Details ‘Phantom’ Obamacare Accounts Sparking New Crackdown on Fraud

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Dr. Mehmet Oz | CMS Administrator Details ‘Phantom’ Obamacare Accounts Sparking New Crackdown on Fraud · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Back on the big show again. We love having this
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: guy on, Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz, good morning. How are you?
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Sid. And I think a lot of folks
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: got riled up last week when the vice president, myself,
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: and a few of the colleagues, Andrew Ferguson, who actually
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: leads the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force, announced numbers that
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: were stunning around fraud in Obamacare. Now, I bring up Obamacare, Sid,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: on purpose because Democrats are running advertisements arguing that because
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: we did not put up more of these subsidies, not
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the original subsidies, but the additional ones that the Biden
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: administration put up just for a year or two during COVID,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: because we didn't extend that because COVID is over. They
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: said we're throwing millions and millions of people off of Obamacare.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: And it turns out what happened during COVID when they
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: gave these extra premiums, which made the policies free, Well,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: if it's free, you don't even know if you have it.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: And so scumbags had come into the marketplaces and manufactured accounts,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: dishonest leaks claiming that these accounts were real. And then
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: they were charging money and collecting billions from the U.S.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: government for policies that didn't exist for people who weren't real.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: They're called phantom accounts. So we had 1.1 million accounts
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: created with no Social Security numbers. To remind everybody, to
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: know if you're eligible for Obamacare, we have to know
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: how much money you make. You really only get it
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: if you're making between one and four times the poverty level.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: So we have to check. And unfortunately, if you don't
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: give me a Social Security number, there's no way for
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: me to look. And so we have to assume something's fishy. Normally,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: it never happens. We had 1.1 million in a row
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: without Social Security numbers. We went after it. We sent
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: these guys letters, telegrams, pictures. carrier pigeons tell us if
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: you're real did you ever file a claim did you
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: ever use the insurance when they didn't respond after several
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: months we took 760 000 of these phantom accounts shut
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: them down and took the money back for the taxpayer
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: that got all democrats crazy they just claimed these people
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: were real we know they're not that's the announcement and
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: it became the kind of fight you actually want because
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: it's it highlighted how ridiculous some of these claims.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Are $ 2. 2 billion when you look at those 760,000 fraudulent
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: recipients that you've removed. So explain this to me, Dr. Oz,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and I love you. You're so comfortable on the show,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: you said the word you probably wouldn't say on TV.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I love that. And you're even laughing. Tell me, why
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: would the Democrats or these brokers be upset if, in fact,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: you're exposing fraud?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Why? Well, the brokers aren't upset. They're losing money. They're
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: just running away. Even the brokers acknowledge that this is ridiculous.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And the good brokers are telling us on the bad brokers,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: which I want to highlight has been a secret to
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: our success, whether it's taking out half the hospices in California,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: which were fraudulent, whether it's going after durable medical equipment suppliers,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: selling wheelchairs and canes in Queens. We have a major
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: problem with social adult daycare. It's the good guys calling us.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and telling us that in the case of Queens, the
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Chinese mafia is running a massive operation, taking the profits,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: and then running a human trafficking operation that controls the
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: East Coast. So it's the good guys telling us about
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the bad guys.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: For the Democrats, it's all politics. They know that these
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: are illegitimate accounts that don't exist, that should not be
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: paid for by hardworking Americans. But it sounds really good
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: if you say Republicans are throwing people off the insurance rolls,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: that they're taking frail people who desperately need help and
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: taking away the one thing that America could have done
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: to help them, which is insurance so they can get
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: their illness taken care of. We're not doing that, obviously.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: We don't want to do that. But when the Democrats
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: say that anyone who thinks they might want to have
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: insurance can get it for free– What does that say
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to all the people who pay a lot of money
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: for their insurance? And by the way, I should say
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: this right up front. One of the biggest problems you've
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: been running into is that there's a group of Democratic lawyers.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: We believe they're funded by George Soros. We don't know
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: that for sure, but I'm getting increasingly suspicious. This group
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: has sued me 150 times. around all the basic things
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: that we assumed everyone agreed with around Obamacare. For example,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I mentioned earlier that you only get eligible to Obamacare,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: as it was originally written, if you're between one and
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: four times the poverty level. But they sued, and of
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: course they searched for a judge who's going to be
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: supportive of them. It's called venue shopping. They got a
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: judge to agree that we're not allowed to check tax returns. Well,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: let me ask you this. If I'm only supposed to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: give it to you if you get between one and
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: four times the poverty level, how do I know that? Well,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: that was the original rule in 2010. They never wrote
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: in the law, and you can check the taxes. They
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: just said, just make sure they're making between one and
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: four times. Well, these guys sued us in front of
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: a judge. who didn't really want to hear, I don't think,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: about these other issues, and made the decision that, you
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: know what, you can't check tax returns anymore. Well, that's
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the kind of decision that really hurts the program. I'm
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: trying to save Obamacare. You can't save a program if
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: it's full of fraud. People stop trusting it. Instead, what
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: we've been doing is say, okay, one in three people,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: at least, on Obamacare have never used the policy. That's impossible.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: If you have insurance that you paid for, especially if
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: you're struggling financially, you're not going to not use it.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So we don't believe these are all real people. We've
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: been going through and just figuring out why the fraud's there.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: But here's the good part, Sidney. I want everyone to
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: understand this, because this is how the president thinks about
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: the world. If you make a functional system, like, for example,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Obamacare that really works without all the fraud, who takes it?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: The private sector begins to say, hey, listen, I run
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: a hamburger stand. I got 30, 40 employees. I can't
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: afford the really big, expensive food. commercial insurance, but I
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: can give my employees money in their pocket and let
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: them go buy Obamacare insurance. And it turns out that
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: those are called choice accounts. Congress has now allowed them.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: The president has been supportive. I've been traveling the country.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: States blue and red are adopting this to make sure
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: that they can give these smaller companies access to health
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: care insurance. That's how you make America healthy again, by
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: giving us access to affordable coverage and And you can't
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: do it if the system is so fraudulent that the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: hamburger stand guy doesn't trust it. Yeah, true.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: And he's also going to have to shut that hamburger
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: stand down because he's not able to afford it. You know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I mentioned Hochul and James a little while ago, Dr. Oz.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I'm just curious, in terms of the fraud, the health
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: care fraud, does New York go past states like California, Minnesota?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Are we the worst in the country?
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Well, financially, New York is unique. It's hard to say
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: that New York is worse than California because California is
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: so bad. And I think California has been working at
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: being bad for a long time with a governor who's
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: been ignoring even the state's own auditor general's claims that
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: they're ignoring the problems. And just, again, put this issue
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: to rest, when we shut down a thousand hospices in
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: California or shut down hundreds of thousands of illegal and
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: contemptible fake accounts in Obamacare, people aren't complaining. If that
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: was actually doing done to hurt Americans, Americans would put
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: their hand up and say, guys, you took my business away.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: You took my insurance away. No one's complaining. So I'm
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: just highlighting this because this is not whether we're right
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: or wrong. It's obvious that this was fraudulent and should
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: have happened. The problem in New York is that it's
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: going one step beyond California in that it's allowing not
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: just a jobs program to exist when you're creating jobs
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: for people who are providing personal care services. Again, this
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: is like someone having their child carry the groceries upstairs
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: for grandma. You said you do that for free. In
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: New York, we pay people to do that. But here's
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the part that's bothering me. Right now, as I speak
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: in New York, the big service industry union, 1199, has
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: somehow gotten the state and their fiscal intermediary to give
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: them the information on all of these hundreds of thousands
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: of people carrying groceries upstairs from bomb. They've reached out
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: to them. They've gotten these guys to agree to be unionized.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: And so now, and we think this is wrong because
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the employer of those people is obviously the person who,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: you know, the grandma, the person who hired them. But
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: the union is claiming that all of these people are
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: going to be unionized. And that's going to be a
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: massive problem because now the federal government is going to
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: be giving money to the union. It's going to be
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: union dues. And what is the union going to do
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: with it? Political Action Committee to support their candidates who
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: support their getting more people unionized who don't want to
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: be in a union. And in California, we found this.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: The same thing is going to happen in New York,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: I believe. In California, the only meeting you have to
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: have to become one of these personal care service people
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: is a meeting with the union representative. And we have
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: 100 complaints that the union rep locked the door, wouldn't
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: let you leave until you signed to join the union.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: And once you win, you can't get out. And the
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: state supports this. And that's coming to New York. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: that was the kinds of issues because New York is
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: so expensive already. The Medicaid program in New York is
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: so much more expensive than anyone else's per capita. I mean,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: it's massively bigger than Florida's Medicaid offering. And yet, you know,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: it's not able to provide meaningfully different services. So we're
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: just putting money bad, good after bad around programs that
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: don't seem to work. That's the kind of discipline that.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: You want your state to have. Otherwise, after a while,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: these fraudsters don't just steal your money. They steal your health.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: They steal your life. And Sid, listen carefully. They steal
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: your trust. These programs are built in a high-trust society.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: When we don't trust our money to go towards taking
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: care of the poor, the disenfranchised, the folks that we
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: all know because we're a great country, we want to help,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: people start saying, I'm not paying anymore. I'm not putting
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: money into that program anymore. And you start shutting down.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: programs that should have been out there that would have
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: been helpful.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: So is it fair to say then that all these
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: issues fall on the governor and attorney general and the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: folks in charge here?
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Of course, the state Medicaid program is run by the state.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: This is a beautiful part about the healthcare system, if
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: you can do it right. Medicare is run by my agency, CMS.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: The president appointed me to run Medicare for seniors, people
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: over 65 mostly. We run that program, took out $ 42
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: billion of fraud this year, this past year. Medicaid for
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: the poor is run by the states. The argument was,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: in 1965, when both these programs were created, The governors
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: know their people better than anybody. They know where the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: weaknesses are. They know where the problems are. They know
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: how to help their poor better than anybody else. Let's
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: keep that local. And so what ended up happening is
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: in Medicaid, because it wasn't good guardrails, we have many
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: more problems. So although I took out $ 42 billion in
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: fraud in Medicare, I only took out $ 4 billion of
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: fraud in Medicaid. They're the same size programs. That means
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: I'm getting one-tenth of the fraud out of Medicaid than
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: I am in Medicare, even though they're both equal in size.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: So we're missing $ 38 billion of fraud, and that's on governors.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Sounds like a pretty good campaigning piece for Bruce Blakeman
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: for me. I'm just saying. I may have just sent
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: him this clip, actually. You know, on the way out, Dr. Oz,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I don't get FOMO often because I get invited to
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: such cool stuff. You know, FOMO, of course, is fear
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: of missing out. But last week, when you had your
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Maha day, and it was you, you know how much
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I love you, and RFK Jr. and Mike Tyson, how
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: big of a day was that for you guys?
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: It was massive. And, again, it highlights that there are
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: so many Americans who realize that the battle for health
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: is not going to be one in an ER or
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: an OR. It's going to be one in your kitchen,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: your living room, your bedroom. And Mike Tyson, who is
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: my neighbor, actually, as well, a great guy, is so
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: focused on making sure that he gets his head together,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: gets his body fit. We've worked out together. He's just
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: a really solid human being. He's worked through a lot
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: of issues. And he tells a beautiful story when he
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: was a kid. This is why he's always out there
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: trying to help. He was a kid, had a lot
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: of problems in the criminal justice system, just obviously tough
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: but not disciplined. He meets a guy who became his
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: idol for life, came over, talked to him, gave him
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: a little pep talk, and it made him become eventually
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: the world champion. That guy's name was Muhammad Ali. Wow.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: And the fact that he had someone that he knew
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: understood the world and had excelled in the world in
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a way that maybe he could give him something aspirational.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And that's why he's out there helping us with the
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Maha movement. Bobby, as you know, Secretary Kennedy, who you
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: know well, he's an avatar for the movement because fundamentally
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the Maha movement is about being curious. The way you are, Sid,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: the way the president is. If you're truly curious, remember,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: 80% of statements or questions are uh, in this, you know,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: the opposites, if their questions are statements in the skies, right.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: You want to flip that, right. And get actually really
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: ask important questions about what happened to our health in America.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Why do we have so much chronic disease? Why are
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: we having problems with fertility? All the things that Americans
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: are concerned about, ask real questions. If you're curious, you will.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: And here's the catch. You have to be courageous enough
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: to act on what you learn. That's what Secretary Kennedy does.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: That's why people get upset, because he's brave enough to
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: tell you what he has found and what you've got
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: to do about it. And then you want to be compassionate,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: because if people know that you're standing because you care,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: not just because you're frustrated and angry, that's a wonderful trio.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: So be curious, courageous, and compassionate. Dr.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Oz, I love you. I really do. You folks should
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: read this. Phantom Obamacare accounts spark new crackdown as Oz
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: targets broker fraud. CMS administrator, my friend, Dr. Oz, 760,000
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: fraudulent accounts. Bye-bye saving us taxpayers $ 2. 2 billion. It's on
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Fox News. How to Brennan wrote it.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Oz, you continue to do amazing work. I mean that sincerely.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: You are just amazing. A miracle guy. You're fantastic. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for hopping on and explaining all
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: this to my listeners. You are the man, Dr.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Oz.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: God bless. Take care.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: God bless you. Dr. Mehmet Oz right there. He's doing
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: an amazing job alongside RFK Jr. The Maha movement is
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: working in a big way. I'm very, very proud of
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: all those guys. Dr. Oz, right here on Sid and
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Friends in the morning.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 14:31
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• 14:33
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• 14:36
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• 14:41
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• 14:52
  Speaker 1: See you next time for.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: A new episode so you never have to wonder.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?