CMS chief urges Senate to postpone hemp ban to protect senior CBD access

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz has entered the Senate’s hemp-policy fight, urging lawmakers to keep a provision that postpones the ban on hemp products. The proposed amendment by Sen. Ted Budd would keep the original Nov. 12 start date, which Oz says would disrupt a CMS pilot allowing Medicare beneficiaries to buy $500 of hemp-derived CBD each year. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Rand Paul and Jeff Merkley introduced language to shift the ban’s effective date to Dec. 11, but Budd’s bipartisan amendment seeks to remove the delay.

The controversy stems from a 2025 revision that would tighten the THC limit to 0.4 mg per container, effectively wiping out most hemp items. Oz warned that removing the delay would strip millions of seniors and disabled Americans of access to medically useful CBD. The dispute is delaying the Senate’s effort to pass a bipartisan continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 11.