Congressional Voices — 2 of 5 · Republican · North Carolina
Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC)
Urologic Surgeon · U.S. House of Representatives · House Hearing on the Insurance Industry · January 22, 2026
The Gideon Standard
In Gideon v. WainwrightGideon v. Wainwright1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling establishing that the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to appointed counsel for defendants who cannot afford an attorney., the Supreme Court ruled that a structurally disadvantaged proceeding cannot produce a just outcome. Rep. Murphy's testimony proves the same dynamic in healthcare: if a physician-congressman doing everything correctly still requires eight attempts, the prior authorizationPrior AuthorizationA health-insurance process that requires your doctor to get advance approval from your plan before it will cover a specific service, procedure, or drug. process is not a neutral review — it is an exhaustion engine. The average patient navigates it alone, without a medical degree, without congressional standing, and without the stamina of someone who already knows the game.
Rep. Greg Murphy — a urologic surgeon and Republican member of Congress — publicly disclosed at a House hearing on the insurance industry that it took him eight attempts through CVS pharmacy benefit management to obtain his own medication. He stated explicitly that he did not use his congressional position to shortcut the process. He followed standard procedure.
Then he told the insurance executives in the room that vertical integrationVertical IntegrationA corporate structure in which a single entity owns multiple layers of the healthcare delivery chain — insurer, pharmacy benefit manager, pharmacy, and physician group — creating s… has destroyed competition in healthcare and that they need to be broken up — invoking Mark Cuban's cost-plus pharmacy model as the market-correction alternative. The Zeteo clip received 77,000 likes and 24,000 shares.
"If I had my way, I'd turn all of you guys into dust. We'd start back from scratch. The vertical integration has destroyed competition in this country... what needs to happen is that you guys need to be broken up."
"It took me eight times through CVS to get that medication. I'm a physician and member of Congress. I didn't pull any strings. I did what I was supposed to do. Imagine the average person in the country."
— Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), urologic surgeon, House hearing on insurance industry, January 22, 2026
Rep. Murphy has not reviewed or endorsed the Clinical Integrity Amendment or S.3822 specifically. This statement represents independent convergence — a Republican physician-congressman arriving at the structural breakup conclusion from his own clinical experience inside the system he is calling to dismantle.
The Jan 22 convergence
The January 22, 2026 hearing produced two of the most widely shared congressional moments on this issue simultaneously: Rep. Murphy's eight-attempt disclosure and AOC's CVS vertical integration exchange. Both went viral. Both arrived at the same structural conclusion from opposite ends of the political spectrum — on the same day, in the same building.
The Longer Cut — Shared by Rep. Murphy
Watch on Instagram →The viral clips were only part of it. In a longer video of the exchange that Rep. Murphy shared himself, he goes further than "break them up." His plan, in his words: "Throw out all for-profit companies in this system and turn everybody into a nonprofit. It has gotten that bad." Then he tells the executives what he thinks they have done:
"You have all been very derelict in your duty, and abused this position of authority. There has been systematic denial and delay of care. There has been a weaponization of prior authorization. You are KILLING people who are trying to get and deliver healthcare. There has been abuse with the Medicare Advantage plans. MY GOD, I could talk about that for hours."
— Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), from the extended video he shared on Instagram. Transcribed word for word by AbilityForge from the video.
"One of the Good Ones"
Not everyone at the witness table got the same treatment. Pointing down the table, Rep. Murphy singles out Paul Markovich — CEO of Ascendiun, the nonprofit parent of Blue Shield of California — as "one of the good ones." The only nonprofit at the table is the one he exempts. That is his whole argument in a single gesture.
Denial · Delay · Weaponization
A sitting physician-congressman naming prior authorization as a weapon — not a safety check — on the record, to the executives' faces.
"Derelict in Your Duty"
His charge is about duty. The fiduciary duty these companies are built around runs to shareholders — which is why he wants the profit motive out entirely.
Count Every Prescription
He asked the executives to count every prescription toward the patient's deductible — even ones filled outside the plan, through options like Cost Plus Drugs.
In the same video he calls on President Trump to fix the system.
Rep. Murphy posted the video on October 16, 2026 — nine months after the hearing — with his own caption: "Too often, patients face unnecessary denials, delays, and obstacles when trying to access the care they need. This is unacceptable."
One of the first to answer was Dr. Elisabeth Potter, the surgeon who refused UnitedHealthcare's cease-and-desist: "It was good for my soul to hear a physician speak the truth to insurance executives. Thank you @repgregmurphy."
Why this matters for S.3822 — Break Up Big Medicine:
Rep. Murphy's direct naming of vertical integration — insurer owning PBM owning pharmacy owning home health — as the mechanism that destroyed competition is the floor-level validation of S.3822's structural premise. He and Rep. Dunn represent two Republican physician-congressmen arriving independently at the same conclusion: the system cannot be reformed from within. It must be structurally separated. S.3822 is the legislative instrument that does exactly that.
Other Members in This Series