Dr. Mehmet Oz announced a six-month national moratorium on new enrollments for durable medical equipment (DME), prostheses, orthotics, and related supplies, describing the move as necessary to combat what he called massive levels of fraud. Vice President of the United States J.D. Vance joined him during the announcement and briefly weighed in during the exchange.

Dr. Oz said the moratorium would apply nationwide and block new suppliers from entering the system during that period.

“Is we're announcing a six month national moratorium, a national moratorium blocking all new enrollments for durable medical equipment, prostheses, orthotics, supplies,” Dr. Oz said. “Across the board, these crimes are becoming a major source of fraudulent activity.”

Turning to Vice President Vance, Dr. Oz referenced South Florida as an example of the scale of the problem.

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“And I'll just mention, Mr. Vice President South Florida. You ever go to McDonald's?” Dr. Oz asked.

“Yea, too much,” Vance replied.

“We had rehearsed this so there are two times twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers in South Florida than McDonald's,” Dr. Oz said.

“Wow,” Vance responded.

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Dr. Oz argued that the imbalance in South Florida illustrates the magnitude of fraudulent activity within the DME sector.

“And that's not because Secretary Kennedy is closing down McDonald's,” Dr. Oz said.

“That's because the amount of fraud is so massive that it's easier to open one of these suppliers than open a bank account, which is why we're working with Secretary Bessent.”

He explained that the nationwide moratorium is intended to prevent fraudulent operators from relocating to other states if enforcement efforts were limited to one region.

“And part of the reason for this moratorium is it gives us time to be able to deal with these issues that have become massive,” Dr. Oz said.

“And if we just shut down south Florida, they'd all flee to California and to Texas. So we have to shut the whole country down.”

According to Dr. Oz, the temporary halt will provide federal officials additional time to investigate and dismantle fraudulent networks.

“This unfortunate necessity is going to allow us to get on top of what we believe is billions of dollars of DME frauds,” he said.

“We've already stopped a billion and a half dollars of billing, but we need more time to shut down these bad guys.”

Dr. Oz emphasized that the moratorium would not affect patients who require legitimate services.

“but it's going to be effective and it's not going to touch the people who need these services,” he said.

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