The Trump administration’s digital health system was a topic of discussion at the 12th annual Health Connect South conference, held Wednesday at the Georgia Aquarium.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price led a keynote conversation on Medicaid, work requirements, and the administration’s rollout of digital health technology.
Announced in July, the initiative is designed to allow patients to share their medical data across health systems. According to the administration, Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, Google, and OpenAI are among the technology companies that have signed on to assist.
Oz told the audience that for Medicaid recipients, the use of the technology would become a requirement. Similar to Georgia’s “Pathways to Coverage” program, recipients would need to log at least 18 work hours per week, with payroll information tracked through smartphones.
Alternatives such as volunteer service or educational classes would be available for those unable to meet the threshold.
“We want that to be the norm,” Oz said, adding that the alternative could lead to “generational poverty.”
He added, “If you’re an able-bodied person on Medicaid, on average, you’re spending 6.1 hours on the cell phone watching television or hanging out a day.”
Oz said that he believes recipients want to work but are not incentivized under the current system.
According to KFF health policy research, most Republicans and Democrats in Congress — and separately voters — have a favorable view of Medicaid.
“With possible changes to government health programs, seven in ten (72%) say they are worried about the level of benefits that will be available to people covered by Medicaid in the future,” a report states on the KFF website.
In addition to Oz and Price, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez was originally scheduled as a keynote speaker.
She was removed from the schedule of speakers following her firing from the role in August. Instead, Monarez testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., offering her account of what led to her dismissal in August.
What pig fascist!!!! Corporate managed health care by the big industrial Silicon Valley tech rapists!