On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he will appoint Mehmet Oz, a TV personality and former Pennsylvania Senate candidate, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Trump said in a statement that Oz would collaborate with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist whom Trump wants to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. “He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades,” Trump said.
Oz said he was “honored” by Trump’s announcement in his own statement. “I look forward to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under the leadership of HHS Secretary @RobertKennedyJr,” stated X.
In an Instagram post last week, cardiothoracic surgeon Oz commended Trump for selecting Kennedy, stating that the former independent presidential candidate will assist our country in tackling the disease industrial complex that threatens our health.
Similar to Kennedy, Oz has been criticized throughout the years for spreading untrue and deceptive statements regarding science and health.
He faced criticism in 2020 for endorsing the anti-malarial medication hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. In 2014, the British Medical Journal conducted a research that looked at the medical advice he gave in 40 randomly chosen episodes of his show from 2013. Only 46% of the 80 suggestions were supported by case studies or other data that the researchers could find.
In a 2015 interview with NBC News, Oz said that there are parts of his show that he wishes he could take back, but he also stated that the purpose of his show was not to discuss medicine in the face of criticism over some of his medical advice.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump made an appearance on Oz’s television show, The Dr. Oz Show, to discuss the findings of his physical test.
From 2009 to 2022, when he made an unsuccessful run for the Senate, Oz’s TV show ran. John Fetterman defeated him, flipping the seat in favor of Democrats.
The Senate must confirm Oz’s request for a government position.
Fetterman stated that he was amenable to Oz being appointed CMS.
Fetterman told NBC News, “I won’t automatically say, ‘F that guy,’ because he ran against me for the Senate.” It’s about talking to someone and learning more.
Trump’s choice was criticized more harshly by other Democrats.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, attacked Oz, pointing to his strong anti-abortion views and support of false scientific claims. He is not capable of running a “critical agency” such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, she claimed.
In a statement, Murray said, “This is a pattern of Donald Trump promoting people he likes to watch on TV for highly consequential jobs in government, and it’s going to cause more chaos and bad outcomes for regular people.”
Republicans in the Senate were more hospitable.
After praising Oz, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he was “glad” to learn that Trump intended to nominate him as CMS administrator.
“I’m excited to talk about his priorities because it’s been more than ten years since a doctor led CMS. Cassidy wrote in a post on X, “This is a great opportunity to help patients and implement conservative health reforms.”
In January, Cassidy will take over as chair of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The panel conducts confirmation hearings for CMS administrators and other nominees.
More than 160 million people receive government-based health insurance through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers children whose families make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid. These programs are administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Trump declared on Tuesday that Oz will lead the way in providing incentives for disease prevention, ensuring that every dollar spent on healthcare in our wonderful nation yields the best outcomes in the world.
According to Trump, he will also reduce fraud and waste in our nation’s most costly government agency, which accounts for a quarter of the national budget and a third of healthcare spending.
The FDA is negotiating drug costs for the most expensive prescription medications covered by Medicare for the first time.
As required by the Inflation Reduction Act, the CMS released the updated costs of its initial round of discussions over ten medications in August. The next 15 medications up for discussion are anticipated to be announced by the government by February. Trump’s stance on the ongoing negotiations, which the pharmaceutical firms are challenging in court, is unknown.
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