Maddow Blog-Mehmet Oz accidentally raises an important point about the Republicans' far-right megabill

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief said the bill would impose “ambitious” changes on health care. In a way, that’s true.

Dr. Oz said the Republicans' megabill would impose "ambitious" changes on the health care system. In a way, that's true.

Few parties have ever even tried to do this much damage to their own country’s health care system in one proposal. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-06-18T12:56:29.480Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/one-big-beautiful-bill-health-care-mehmet-oz-rcna213692

Despite his obvious lack of qualifications, Senate Republicans recently decided to put Mehmet Oz, a controversial television personality and failed U.S. Senate candidate, in charge of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The former physician went to Capitol Hill this week to lobby in support of the GOP’s domestic policy megabill, and in the process, Oz inadvertently raised an important point. The Washington Post reported:

While congressional Republicans have largely framed their massive bill as a tax and immigration package, on Tuesday, Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the bill is also a ‘health reform’ measure. ... ‘This is the most ambitious health reform bill ever in our nation’s history,’ Oz told reporters Tuesday after attending the Senate Republicans’ weekly lunch alongside Vice President JD Vance.

In a way, what Oz said was true: The GOP’s reconciliation package — the inaptly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — is “the most ambitious health reform bill ever in our nation’s history,” but not in the way the CMS chief meant.....

But that analysis was based on the version of the legislation approved by the GOP-led House. As The Bulwark’s Jonathan Cohn explained, the changes drafted by Senate Republicans actually make the bill worse.

Pretty much every blow to health care that was in the House version of the bill remains in the bill language Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) released on Monday. And some of the blows could land even harder. ... The projections for the Senate bill might be even more severe.

Oz characterized the far-right gambit as health care “reform,” which might be true in a literal sense, if one defines “reform” as imposing “changes.” But there’s no reason to believe that American consumers and families are looking for Medicaid cuts, ACA cuts and “reforms” that would undermine hospitals — though these outcomes would be unavoidable if this not-so-beautiful legislation became law.

Cohn’s analysis concluded, “For now, almost all elected Republicans seem content to keep going with their big beautiful bill. But they should be spooked — and maybe they will be, once they realize what’s truly in there.”

Or put another way, “ambitious” changes aren’t always good changes.