‘Legalized money laundering’: Trump administration targets fraud, abuse in ‘broken’ healthcare system, Dr. Oz says

Dr. Mehmet Oz doesn’t mince words when describing what his team found lurking in America’s Medicaid program: “legalized money laundering” and a system overwhelmed by “tremendous amounts of fraud.” 

In a wide-ranging interview with The Lion’s Chris Stigall at the White House on Monday, the Trump administration’s Medicare and Medicaid chief revealed rampant abuse in the federal government’s insurance programs – and aggressive goals to combat it. 

By doing so, Oz says the administration will “save” Medicare and Medicaid – not extinguish them, as the left falsely claims.  

“The president was very clear on this over and over again, and he would call me up and say, ‘Oz, just get the fraud, waste, and abuse out.’ That’s what we tried to do in the One Big Beautiful Bill,” he told The Lion. 

“And it is, to me, frustrating, alarming, that others would construe that as purposely trying to hurt the program.”  

Loosening Medicaid rules made sense during the public health emergency of the pandemic, he said, but it’s time to restore rules and order. 

“We didn’t touch Medicare at all, but it was pretty clear that if we did not intervene on Medicaid, well, we basically had legalized money laundering taking place” as well as “tremendous amounts of fraud and people on the program who were never supposed to be on the program.” 

When Medicaid and Medicare were founded, he adds, there was “no concept” there would be able-bodied people capable of working who received Medicaid.  

Citing Hubert Humphrey, Oz says the government’s moral obligation is to take care of “those at the dawn of life, the children, those at the twilight of life, the mature folks, and those living in the shadows.” 

“That use of light as an allegory is haunting, but it’s important – dawn, dusk and those in the twilight, in the shadows,” Oz elaborates. “But it’s not really about able-bodied people who are in the bright, sunny days of their life, sitting at home and watching, on average, 6.1 hours of television or just hanging out. It’s actually not what God puts you on the planet to do. You’re supposed to go out and make the world better.” 

The One Big Beautiful Bill requires most able-bodied people on Medicaid to fulfill weekly time requirements working, volunteering or attending school. When the government enables people to avoid working, Oz warns, it puts them in a “cage” and can trap people into depression and higher rates of illicit drug use. 

Most Americans agree people who can work should work, he notes, and the concept also “happens to save Medicaid.”  

Oz says the administration has “big fish to fry” when it comes to the country’s health challenges, including focusing on getting young people healthy, addressing autism rates and reducing overall health expenses.  

“We control about $1.75 trillion of expenditures; that’s Medicare and Medicaid,” he said. “That’s twice the size of the Defense Department. That’s how big this is.” 

He said it’s vital to use the funding to not just pay for the bills, but pay the bills “for the right types of activity,” such as preventing illness, mental health conditions and helping women who are having babies. 

America needs more primary care physicians and nurses, not “really expensive solutions that people don’t want or need.” 

Oz credits Trump with wanting to address deep issues in the healthcare system – such as 1 in 3 patients not being able to pick up prescriptions because they can’t afford them. Americans shouldn’t have to decide between whether to buy food or medicine, Oz contends. 

“The president has already allowed us to do something around ‘prior authorization,’ so we don’t have insurance companies interfering with your ability to get the care you want from your doctor. We have a plan now for ‘most favored nation’ pricing on drugs. Americans should not pay three times more for the exact same drug made in the same factory in the same box as someone in Europe is paying. That’s not fair to the American people.” 

Asked by Stigall about the state of Medicare for seniors, Oz clarifies the administration is in no way “reducing expenses or investment” in Medicare. Instead, Oz said he is focused on making it more efficient and working on higher-quality care for seniors.  

“The most expensive medicine is bad medicine,” he explains. “The better care you get, the better you’re going to do personally, but the less you’re going to cost the system.” 

It’s all part of a broader goal the administration, along with the Make America Healthy Again movement, has set to make sure the government works with and for the people in healthcare. Oz says he previously didn’t know if it was achievable, but he is now “positive” the administration can get special-interest groups out of the way – or even bring them on board.  

“The people who really know how to fix their business are the people in that business. So why not get them to do it under threat that, if you don’t do it yourself, we’ll come in there with a sledgehammer,” he suggests. “We’ll make sure we protect you, and if you don’t do it, we’ll come after you.”