Donald Trump picks TV celebrity Mehmet Oz to lead centres for Medicare and Medicaid services

The President-elect named Mehmet Oz to the role which will see him holding sway over the healthcare of millions of Americans.

Mehmet Oz ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat in 2022 despite Donald Trump’s support. Picture: AFP.

President-elect Donald Trump named TV personality Mehmet Oz to lead the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the healthcare of millions of Americans.

“America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” Trump said on Tuesday. “Dr Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”

Dr Oz will need to be confirmed by the Senate next year before he officially takes charge of the agency. The Senate Finance Committee will have to vote before his nomination can be considered by the full Senate.

The agency, which falls under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services, has more than 6,000 employees and plays a major role in shaping the health coverage of more than 130 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and plans obtained through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

Mr Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to helm HHS.

Our bodies need an alphabet soup of vitamins to stay healthy, and studies have shown that Americans aren’t getting what they need. I use multivitamins from the trusted source, @iHerb, and take half in the morning and half at night for best results! https://t.co/Jm4rzih2kR

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) November 16, 2024

The leader of CMS holds strong sway over some of the federal government’s largest and most politically sensitive programs. The agency makes high-stakes decisions around payment and policy that undergird the entire healthcare sector, including hospitals, doctors, insurers and drugmakers. Nearly $1.5 trillion flows through the agency each year, about 14% of the federal government’s annual spending.

In the first Trump administration, Dr Oz served on the president’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Mr Trump backed Oz in his 2022 Senate race in Pennsylvania, which helped him win a competitive primary. He ultimately lost to Democratic Senator John Fetterman in the general election. Oz was widely seen as a poor candidate, in large part because he didn’t have a history of residing in the state.

Dr Oz is a physician and heart surgeon, though he is best known as the celebrity surgeon widely known as Dr Oz on TV. Trump’s statement nominating Oz noted that he had won nine daytime Emmy Awards. Trump appeared on Oz’s show in 2016 as a presidential candidate discussing his medical records.

Dr Oz is a heart surgeon but better known for his TV show. Picture: AFP.

While holding a vice chairmanship post at Columbia University in 2015, he came under scrutiny by medical professionals who called for Oz’s dismissal from the school, accusing him of “promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.” Oz defended himself, saying he presents multiple points of view.

Oz has expressed support for vaccines, including the measles vaccine that Kennedy has linked to autism. But he has opposed vaccine mandates. Oz’s views have been shown to be influential. A 2022 study in the Journal of Communication found that after Oz endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, more of his viewers had an accurate view of the shot.

Kennedy is currently renting Oz’s Florida home down the street from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

For the healthcare business sector, Oz will be a less well-defined option than some other healthcare leaders who have previously worked at the agency. Key questions facing the next leader of CMS and its parent HHS include the extension of enhanced government subsidies that help people buy coverage in the Affordable Care Act exchanges, payments for the Medicaid program that covers low-income Americans, and negotiations with drugmakers over the prices of some medications under Medicare, which provides coverage for the elderly and disabled.

In the past, Oz has signalled support for a major role for private insurers in covering Americans. In 2020, he co-wrote a piece for Forbes that suggested providing coverage for uninsured Americans through the Medicare Advantage program, in which the federal benefits for the elderly and disabled are delivered through insurers’ plans. In the same piece, he criticised the traditional “fee for service” payment model in which hospitals and doctors are paid for each service they provide.

An archived version of a 2022 Oz Senate campaign website suggested that, if elected, Oz would “work to dismantle policies that lead to more expensive prescription drugs for our seniors.” The campaign platform signalled that Oz still strongly supported Medicare Advantage, promising he would “expand access to private sector plans expanded by President Trump and beloved by seniors for their low costs and high quality that could be available to all Americans who want them.” Such comments may provide reassurance to major insurers that depend heavily on the Medicare business. Medicare Advantage insurers’ practices have come under growing scrutiny from government watchdogs. The companies have seen their margins squeezed recently by higher medical costs and policies advanced by the Biden administration that limited certain billing practices.

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