Dr. Oz on drug pricing, Medicaid and rural healthcare

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the impact of drug pricing due to tariffs.

According to Brennan, President Donald Trump put a 25% tariff on India, which is a big drug producer, as well as a 15% tariff on imported medicines from Europe.

This prompted her to ask Dr. Oz how he plans to stop drugmakers from passing "along those costs to people on Medicare and Medicaid," to which Oz said:

"Well, the president's letter on Thursday, for most favored nation pricing, is a good example of that. And he's been working on this tirelessly since the first administration. And just to put this in context...about two-thirds of bankruptcies in America are caused by healthcare expenses. About a third of people when they go to the pharmacy, they leave empty handed. They can't afford the medication. So, the president has said, enough global freeloading.

We've been covering much of the development costs for new drugs to cure cancer, do other things with lots of other illnesses that are life-threatening. Isn't it time for the American public to understand that we should not be paying three times more for the exact same medication in the same box, made in the same factory.

So, the president is saying, equalize it out. Let's use a model that worked, for example, for external threats, that's what NATO did. Everyone has to pay a little more. We'll pay extra too. But we won't pay a lot more than everybody else so they actually have to raise their...if you cut contributions, in this case to an internal threat, which is illness, we'll pay a little less in America that way more Americans can afford these medications and it's a fair system for the entire globe."

During the interview, Brennan and Oz talked about changes being made to qualify for Medicare or Medicaid services.

Brennan says one of the changes is the work requirements, which is about 20 hours a week, whether if anyone volunteers or works, to qualify for healthcare.

This led her to ask Oz what his guidance is to state on how to implement the changes, as well as asking how Uber drivers and independent contractors show they work 20 hours a week, and Oz said:

"As long as we're OK that people should work and would want to work, and it's not just work, it's community engagement. They can go get education, right? They can take care of family members. They can contribute in other ways. But work's a great way of doing it. It can get you out of poverty if you can find jobs and elevate yourself.

There have been efforts to do this in the past, but they haven't been able to achieve what we can achieve because we have technologies now and we have invested already, as soon as the bill was signed, began pilots to try to demonstrate that we can actually do this correctly. We have pilots now in Louisiana and in Arizona.

In both cases, within seven minutes, you can click on where you're working – you mentioned Uber. You're an Uber driver. You click that button on your phone. It just takes you to your payroll provider. Let's say it's ADP. We then ask your permission, can we connect with this payroll provider to – to demonstrate what you've actually been able to work and earn over the past month.

This also, by the way, confirms your eligibility, but there's a bigger benefit here. Once you do that, you're in, you're done. However, what if we take it one step further...What if we go beyond just proving that you tried to work, to actually saying, 'You know what? You didn't work enough, but we can actually help you by connecting you through employment office.'"

Later in the interview, Brennan and Oz talked about the impact on rural healthcare due to cuts to healthcare.

"You have 7% of Medicaid money going to rural hospitals. We're putting $50 billion. The president wants this. [Congress] wants this. It will make a massive dent," Oz said. "The money is designed to help you with workforce development, right sizing the system and using technology to provide things like telehealth that can change the world."

When asked if he has any specifics, he said, "[Patients] will get the applications in early September."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Oz, click here.