RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The following is the transcript of an interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 23, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: And we are joined now by the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz. Welcome back to Face the Nation.DR. MEHMET OZ: Thanks for having me.MARGARET BRENNAN: It is unquestionable here that healthcare costs are projected to rise in 2027, and this is a top concern. We see it in our polling in terms of economic worry for the average American. There\u0027s some good news, and I know you\u0027re watching this portion of it. There\u0027s this 3.1% drop year-over-year in drug prices, according to the Consumer Price Index for the month of July. Now that\u0027s not all drugs and generics played a role here. I know the administration wants to take credit for it, but can you give us some projection here? Are we going to see a further drop in drug prices, and if so, where, how much, who\u0027s going to benefit?DR. OZ: Well, I think drug prices are going to continue to drop. This is just what the doctor ordered. To be clear, this is the number one issue that Americans fear about healthcare costs because it comes out of their pocket. So let\u0027s put this in context. If you\u0027re sitting at home right now and you go to a drugstore because a doctor prescribed a medication, especially a branded product that might change your life for the better, hopefully. One in three times, roughly, you will leave empty-handed because you can\u0027t afford the medication. Now, when you see drug prices drop as fast as they have over the past year- the fastest drop we\u0027ve had in 63 years and it\u0027s accelerating, which is why I\u0027m confident that it\u0027s going to continue. You change that dynamic. Now, the question is why? How did that happen? And one of the realities is that we leave empty-handed from the drugstore because our drugs cost much more than they cost in other countries. And the president recognizes, and it really bothered him, and it has for years. The real question is why didn\u0027t we deal with it earlier? So the president gave us a very clear mandate at the very beginning of the administration because these processes take time. He said, "I don\u0027t want you to hurt productivity, creativity, innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, but they are not allowed to charge three times more for the exact same products made often in U.S. facilities than they pay in Europe or Asia." So we went after this issue. Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing is the result. We\u0027re not telling companies what they can charge. We\u0027re saying, whatever you charge overseas, you got to charge here. No more of this global freeloading. And thankfully, the 17 companies representing 85% of the drug sector all came on board. And here\u0027s the good news, their market capitalization on Wall Street actually went up because they- the market wants stability. What we want is better prices for the American people, and we got it. And just to put it in context, this increasing savings that we\u0027re seeing, the additional amount of savings we\u0027re getting, primarily driven not just by having the medications at Most-Favored-Nation pricing, but available to the American people and TrumpRx.gov, is seismic in its nature.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you know, more people want more information, and these deals aren\u0027t being published. There\u0027s some questions from lawmakers about it. I\u0027ve seen reporting that 17 drug makers agreed to these Most-Favored-Nation prices, but that Medicare and Medicaid recipients don\u0027t yet get full access to the programs. When will they? How much cheaper will it be? What kind of drugs?DR. OZ: Well, Medicare beneficiaries are rapidly getting access to these deals. By the way, we want to codify--MARGARET BRENNAN: But they don\u0027t have access to this program--DR. OZ: No, they do. They do. For example, the GLP-1 medications, the so-called "fat shot," as the president calls them, they\u0027re now available to eligible Medicare beneficiaries for $50 a month. Margaret, these drugs were over $1,000 a month before we came in this administration. So that\u0027s driving a lot of the savings. That\u0027s the number one category, by the way, of all drugs. And guess where the number one zip code is for GLP-1s today in America? It\u0027s the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The rich people get access to these drugs because they want to look better when they go out to the Hamptons for the weekend. But the people who need them, the seniors who are overweight, can now, for the first time, afford these drugs. $50 a month means you can do something to help yourself lose weight, reduce blood pressure, reduce diabetes, and all the downstream costs that would have been incurred no longer happen.\u00a0MARGARET BRENNAN: So, they have full access, is what you\u0027re saying. It\u0027s not just the GLP-1s.DR. OZ: Medicare beneficiaries have full access to some of the drugs, like the fertility drugs. They don\u0027t need those quite as much, even though fertility drugs are down 90%. So we have delivered these medications as they make sense, and going forward- this is the reason I\u0027m optimistic- all new drugs released in America from these large companies will be at Most-Favored-Nation drug pricing. So we will get better and better and better.MARGARET BRENNAN: So you acknowledged earlier this week in an interview with my colleague Major Garrett on CBS that that Biden-era 2022 law that allowed Medicare to haggle with drug makers was helpful to you in this. That that was kind of part of opening the door. I remember at that time there was a lot of concern and criticism about that law- that it would hurt innovation, that it would hurt the pub- the marketplace. How is it that you are now embracing it and making sure that it\u0027s not doing that?DR. OZ: The risks of th...
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