Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid administrator, pushed back forcefully against a reporter on Wednesday after she pressed him on how the “Big Beautiful Bill” affects health care in rural America, calling her question “deliberately duplicitous.”
Molly Martinez of Gray Media’s Washington News Bureau shared video of the exchange on social media, writing in her caption that things “got heated” during her interview with Oz.
Martinez opened by challenging the administration’s approach to rural health care.
“The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ cut $137 billion in rural healthcare spending,” she told Oz. “There was money there. So, this seems to be a solution to a problem that the administration may have created.”
Trump signed the legislation into law on July 4, 2025. The bill enacted sweeping cuts to federal Medicaid spending that are projected to reach $911 billion over a decade, including an estimated $137 billion in rural areas, the figure Martinez cited.
The law also established a $50 billion rural health fund. However, experts estimate that money will fall well short of offsetting the projected Medicaid cuts in rural communities.
Oz wasn’t having it.
“You’re repeating talking points that are not only wrong, but they’re deliberately duplicitous,” he said.
“What about this is wrong?” Martinez shot back.
“That number is incorrect,” Oz said. “That’s not how much money got taken from rural institutions. That is a talking point from industry.”
The Medicare and Medicaid chief argued that Medicaid dollars meant for rural communities often end up diverted to major hospital systems in big cities. He then highlighted the administration’s new investment.
“The $50 billion we’re putting into rural healthcare systems is a 50% increase over the amount of money we put into Medicaid in those systems from last year! It’s the biggest increase ever. So, don’t believe —” Oz said before being cut off.
“But Dr. Oz,” Martinez interjected. “This is $50 billion you’re putting into a system that you just robbed of $137 billion.”
Oz stood his ground, sharply rejecting the premise of the question.
“That is incorrect and dishonest and a deliberately duplicitous question,” he said.
Martinez defended her reporting, pointing to the sources behind her figures.
“My sources here are the Center for American Progress; it’s the Congressional Budget Office,” she said. “There are plenty of people working to show the damage that this is doing to rural healthcare, and the people are the ones that are dying on the way to the hospital that’s two hours away.”
