On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said that the unionization of personal care workers in New York “means, now, we’re paying union dues, and that goes back to support the political patronage, that, unfortunately, in the case of New York, is being supported by one party.”
Oz said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:25] “[W]ith Medicare and Medicaid, there is a handshake agreement we have, especially when we start offering services that are designed to protect you, because your family is not doing them for you. I’ll give you one concrete example: In New York state, where you are right now, the number one job in the entire state is not retail, it’s not folks working in shops, it’s personal care services. Why? Because it’s a jobs program for the state. Almost half a million people in that state are being paid to carry groceries upstairs for their parents or for their neighbor. Again, these are jobs your family would do for you. That creates jobs in a state that’s losing jobs. But that generates tax revenue, but it comes from the federal government, because we pick up most of the tab.”
He continued, “And here’s the part that’s really bothering me, they’re starting to unionize these workers, which means, now, we’re paying union dues, and that goes back to support the political patronage, that, unfortunately, in the case of New York, is being supported by one party.”
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