The White House forced the national press corps to cover President Donald Trump‘s healthcare agenda on Tuesday, even though most media outlets were searching for answers on the appointment of Bill Pulte as acting national intelligence director and updates about the ongoing Iran war.Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz was tapped to headline the White House press briefing, the latest figure to stand in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the briefing podium, who is out on maternity leave.“I’m here because I love Medicaid,” Oz said during the nearly 40-minute briefing. “The president has already said he loves and cherishes Medicaid and Medicare. … Medicaid, in particular, is the ultimate payer of last resort. We cannot allow these programs to be defrauded into a turmoil that they cannot pull up from.”
Unlike the other press briefings, Tuesday’s event saw the White House press corps mostly pepper Oz with healthcare-related questions, including the growing Ebola crisis, COVID-era vaccine mandates, most-favored-nation drug pricing agreements, and cracking down on Medicaid fraud. He was not asked a single question about the Iran war, even as negotiations for a long-term peace deal appear to be faltering.
