00:00Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Secretary Kennedy, for being here today.
00:07It's actually not our first time meeting.
00:10We met a very, very long time ago when I was nine years old in Westchester-Putnam County at a Riverkeeper event.
00:19And I remember back then you talking about the importance of science and environmental action at that time.
00:27I'm listening to a lot of your discussion and a lot of the messages that you provide to people.
00:41You talk a lot about corporate influence and corruption in government.
00:47And this is an area that's very important to me, and it's an area that I do a lot of work in.
00:53And I am, as a public servant, completely financially divested of any conflicts of interest with any health care companies, any stocks, any lawsuits that I would financially benefit from.
01:10Are you?
01:12Am I? Yes.
01:13You're completely divested.
01:14Yes.
01:15You have no financial interest in any lawsuit, crypto, none of that.
01:19No.
01:20Oh, crypto?
01:21I own some, I own Bitcoin.
01:23Okay.
01:24And do you have any other securities or assets?
01:27I don't, I mean, I had to go through this with the Office of Government Ethics, and I had a few interests that were very minor that I divested.
01:36Okay.
01:36Just checking.
01:37I'd always like to.
01:38It's a good question.
01:39I always like to know what the field is before I enter conversations.
01:44So thank you for that.
01:45In the health care space, something that we've both spoken to is that some of the worst actors are in the for-profit medical space, are in for-profit health insurance, big pharma, et cetera.
02:01And one of the worst companies, actually, is UnitedHealthcare in this respect.
02:07UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurance company in the country.
02:10They are the largest employer of doctors and own thousands of pharmacies, clinics, surgery centers, and home health agencies, as well as hospice providers.
02:19Secretary Kennedy, are you aware that President Trump's Department of Justice is reportedly investigating UnitedHealthcare for criminal insurance fraud in some of their for-profit health insurance plans, like Medicare Advantage?
02:30I'm not aware of that investigation.
02:32You are not aware that the Trump Department of Justice is investigating the largest insurance company in America that-
02:43No, I'm not aware of-
02:44For fraud and Medicare Advantage?
02:47No, I'm not aware of that.
02:48That you have jurisdiction over it?
02:50It doesn't surprise me.
02:52Okay.
02:53In your submitted testimony, you said HHS takes seriously our role as responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.
02:59Are you aware that for-profit insurance corporations, like UnitedHealthcare, have been found to be defrauding public dollars of more than $80 billion a year?
03:13I'm not aware of that number.
03:15You're not aware of that?
03:15But I'm aware that there is fraud across the for-profit sector.
03:19Respectfully, Secretary Kennedy, if we're making decisions around waste, fraud, and abuse, this is the largest source of waste, fraud, and abuse of public dollars in the public insurance space.
03:34Did you say $80 million?
03:36$80 billion a year.
03:39Did you say $80 million or $80 billion?
03:41$80 with a B.
03:42Billion.
03:43With a B, yeah.
03:44If that's the case, why did you nearly double the rate that taxpayer dollars give for-profit insurance companies like United next year, if you don't know those things?
04:04Double the rate?
04:05How did I do that?
04:05So your agency nearly doubled the taxpayer dollars that for-profit insurance corporations like United will be paid next year, meaning these companies, the largest of whom is under investigation, criminal investigation by the Trump administration, will be receiving an additional $25 billion from your agency.
04:27How is that happening?
04:28I would be happy to submit to the congressional record evidence of this.
04:33I will enter the CMS press release from April 7th of 2025 into the record, which states that Medicare Advantage corporations will now receive a 5.06% increase in payments next year under your jurisdiction, Mr. Secretary.
04:53This is up from 2.2%.
04:56Without objection.
04:57From the Biden administration.
04:59You are doubling the rate that the Biden-
05:02The general lady's time has expired.
05:04That these criminally investigated companies are receiving.
