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 stated 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.
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. Prior to that, in a 2014 research, the British Medical Journal questioned the medical advice that Oz gave in 40 randomly chosen episodes of his show from 2013. Only 46% of the 80 suggestions were supported by a case study or other data that the researchers discovered.
In a 2015 interview, Ozt told NBC News that his show’s goal was not to discuss medicine in response to criticism of some of his medical advice. He also said that there are some parts of his show that he wishes he could take back.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump appeared on Oz’s television show, The Dr. Oz Show, to discuss the findings of his physical.
Before his unsuccessful Senate run in 2022, Oz’s TV show ran from 2009. John Fetterman defeated Oz, flipping the seat in favor of Democrats.
The Senate must confirm Oz’s request for a government position.
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 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.
Trump’s declaration coincides with the agency’s first-ever drug price negotiations for the most expensive prescription medications covered by Medicare.
As required by the Inflation Reduction Act, the CMS released the updated costs of its initial round of talks on 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 are being challenged in court by pharmaceutical corporations, is unknown.
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