President-elect Donald Trump has tapped television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator. Oz is the latest Trump leadership pick designed to shake up the federal government and reward loyal supporters with prime positions. Oz's nomination has garnered praise from those hoping to reform Medicaid to caution from critics noting his penchant for pushing medical misinformation.
Trump said in a statement that Dr. Oz will “cut waste and fraud within our country’s most expensive government agency,” He also said Oz will “work closely” with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.” During his first term, Trump appointed Oz to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.
Oz said on X that he was honored to be nominated by Trump to lead CMS. “I look forward to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under the leadership of the HHS Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr.,“ who called Oz, a friend in his own X post and said his nomination was “outstanding.”
Oz’s claim to fame
Dr. Oz became a household name on Oprah Winfrey’s daytime television show before spinning off his own series, "The Dr. Oz Show," in 2009. Although he no longer does surgeries, his physician license remains active in Pennsylvania. His other accomplishments include writing several New York Times bestsellers and hosting an Emmy-winning TV show. He founded the HealthCorps initiative, a national nonprofit that educates teens about healthy habits.
In 2022, Oz ran for U.S. Senate as a Republican. Although he was a longtime resident of New Jersey and worked in New York City, Oz ran in Pennsylvania, noting a connection to the state through his wife’s parents. Oz narrowly won the primary but lost to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in the general election.
Qualifications and controversy
As administrator of the CMS, Oz would influence the medical care and insurance of large swaths of Americans. About 66 million people rely on Medicare, and almost 80 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). He would also oversee the Affordable Care Act marketplace, which insures over 21 million people.
Oz would also take the helm of an enormous bureaucracy and budget. The CMS is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that sets Medicare payment rates for hospitals, doctors, labs, and other service providers. The agency's budget is nearly $1.5 trillion yearly, about 14% of the federal government’s annual spending.
Oz has impeccable medical training. He has an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an MBA from Penn's Wharton Business School. Trump also noted that Oz was a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University. Dr. Oz was part of a team that developed the MitraClip for certain cardiac patients to be treated without open-heart surgery.
As a television personality, however, Oz has a spotty record and a penchant for pushing unproven products. One study in the BMJ journal found that less than half of the products he promoted on his show were medically proven and 13% contradicted known medical advice.
Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) said it was “deeply disappointing” to see someone “with zero qualifications” picked to lead CMS. “We need serious leaders when it comes to protecting Americans’ healthcare and bringing down costs — not TV hosts whose main qualification is their loyalty to Donald Trump,” she said.
The CMS administrator is not part of the Cabinet but requires Senate confirmation.
How Oz might change Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA
The incoming CMS administrator will face several challenges to ensure the quality and sustainability of programs. For example, should the administrator fight to extend government subsidies to enable people to buy coverage in the Affordable Care Act exchanges? The administrator will likely also address payments for the Medicaid program and negotiations with drugmakers over the prices of some medications under Medicare.
On his 2022 Oz Senate campaign website, Oz suggested that, if elected, he would “work to dismantle policies that lead to more expensive prescription drugs for our seniors.”
Oz 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.” Many customers give Advantage plans high marks, yet Advantage plans have a high claim denial rate. Moreover, Medicare Advantage customers face a shrinking pool of insurers as companies pull back from unprofitable markets.
Just this month, Republicans in Congress discussed cuts to Medicaid, which could threaten health coverage for roughly a fifth of poor Americans. At a similar crossroads is Medicare, the federal government’s second-largest budget item (as part of the larger health spending category), accounting for $848 billion, or roughly 12% of the budget last year.
If confirmed, Oz would likely reduce Medicaid spending, encourage privatization of Medicare through Advantage plans, build on the Biden administration's drug price negotiation efforts and reform the ACA marketplace.
