During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Friday, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) spoke about paperwork that Georgians must fill out to receive Medicaid.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank You brother chairman Dr. Oz welcome to you and your family congratulations on your nomination
00:06I enjoyed our conversation the other day
00:09And finding out the friends that we have in common
00:13My home state dr. Oz the state of Georgia is not
00:18Only one of just ten states in the country that still has not expanded Medicaid
00:23It also has the dubious distinction of being the only state the only state in the country
00:29Where the limited number of families who do qualify for Medicaid are required to regularly
00:35Complete bureaucratic paperwork to prove that they're still working the minimum number of hours to get health care
00:41State officials call it Georgia pathways to cover to coverage. I call it Georgia pathways to nowhere
00:50The program is allowed under the state's Medicaid waiver, which is up to it, which is up for renewal this year
00:56And if confirmed as head of CMS you would be responsible for approving or
01:02Denying the state's application to renew this onerous
01:06paperwork requirement
01:08Dr. Oz I'm not going to ask you really I'm not gonna ask you to prejudge the state's renewal application
01:13That wouldn't be fair. You need to see it
01:15But since you would oversee
01:18Medicaid if confirmed yes or no, do you believe that families should have to complete?
01:25Government paperwork
01:27every single month
01:28To prove that they're working just to get health care when they're sick
01:32Senator I appreciate your question. I enjoyed visiting with you my wife who's went to Union Theological for a while
01:40Different time than you. I brought her as as a support staff good
01:45That gives me comfort. Yes or no?
01:47Yeah, the answer to me is I am in favor of work requirements, and I don't believe we should allow
01:52Do you think a family should have to fill out paperwork every month just to get health care
01:57I don't think you need to use paperwork to prove work requirement
02:00And I don't think that should be used as an obstacle a disingenuous effort to block people from getting on Medicaid
02:06However, I believe we would both probably agree that there's value in work, and it doesn't have to be going to a job
02:11It could be getting education because it should be showing that you want to contribute to society
02:15You could bet you could volunteer at Ebenezer Baptist Church where I did a show with you once that would for me fulfill the
02:22You'll never get any pushback from me about the value of a work ethic and the purpose that work provides
02:28Which is why I think people ought to have health care so they can get back to work
02:32Very often they can't get back to work in Georgia because they can't get the health care. Let me give you an example
02:38There is a woman in Dalton, Georgia that I've got to know a while ago. Her name is Heather Payne
02:44she's a traveling nurse and
02:47You know as a traveling nurse some jobs were better than others sometimes she had health care sometimes she didn't
02:52She was among those folks who were in the gap. She couldn't afford private insurance
02:57But she wasn't poor enough to get conventional Medicaid. So her health challenges and the unpredictable
03:04Nature of her of her work as a traveling nurse made it impossible
03:09For her to meet Georgia's onerous work
03:13verification
03:14Requirements to get Medicaid. She she found out she had a she had had a series of strokes
03:19She had to save the money to see a neurologist
03:21and then she found out she'd had a series of strokes took a long time to be able to afford to go and
03:27Now she's in the gap
03:29And she can't meet Georgia's onerous work requirements. Do you think Heather Payne a traveling nurse who spent her career?
03:38Providing health care to others. Do you think she deserves Medicaid or not? Yes. Thank you
03:44I agree with you and and and since we agree
03:48I think that the Medicaid waiver that you will be responsible for reviewing. I think that Medicaid waiver
03:54In fact, I know it it says that that Heather does not deserve Medicaid
03:58let me tell you about another Georgian Amanda left her two jobs in New York and
04:03Moved to Warner Robins, Georgia to become a full-time care caregiver for an 84 year old father Thomas
04:10Taking care of her father has become a full-time
04:13Responsibility for Amanda, he's 84 years old. She's taking care of him, which means he's not in a nursing home
04:21By the way, she's taken on that responsibility
04:23But with all of this she doesn't have time to hold a full-time job that meets the state's strict work
04:30Requirements and she has no income to cover her own health care costs should she get sick
04:35Does do you think Amanda deserves Medicaid from what you're describing? Yes
04:40These are the opportunities we have to make the system better if we both agree that
04:45People should be trying to get off Medicaid if they can we should be able to create a system where we can track that
04:52Because there's the twin paradox, which I think we touched on in the office. Two brothers are at home
04:58One's working every day flipping burgers making minimum wage
05:01Maybe he's cobbling together sixteen seventeen thousand dollars puts him right above the poverty level and the other brother
05:07Doesn't bother working because he'll have the exact same
05:11Coverage if he doesn't work, we want to make both of them want to move up the ladder like every small businessman
05:16What's their goal to become a big businessman? So so look
05:20You and I have the basis. I hope for a meaningful conversation
05:25Georgia's pathways to coverage
05:27Is a roadblock to care. They've literally gotten I don't know six thousand people. I think the last time I checked
05:35On and we got over five hundred thousand people in the gap
05:39So I'm gonna give you a softball if you're confirmed
05:43Will you work with me and will you keep Amanda and Heather in mind?
05:49As you consider whether or not to renew
05:52Georgia's
05:54Waiver, which I think is filled with unnecessary and onerous work requirements paperwork filling out paperwork every single month
06:01Will you keep these two people in mind?
06:03That's the question there Amanda should be in all of our minds and many others like them
06:07I look forward to working with you. Maybe if you invite me down on a Sunday, I'll come to church with you
06:12Thank you very much. You're invited any Sunday
06:16You you can't preach but you can come
06:20Senator Welch