If confirmed, the heart surgeon, who became a celebrated daytime talk show host, would oversee Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplaces.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he would nominate Mehmet Oz, 64, the television personality known as “Dr. Oz,” to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The announcement comes on the heels of his plans to have Robert F. Kennedy Jr. serve as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Both announcements were posted to Trump’s Truth Social platform.
“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 in the post. “He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades. 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.”
Trump said that Oz would provides incentives for disease prevention and work to cut waste and fraud within the agency.
Dr. Oz hosted “The Dr. Oz Show” for 13 years until his unsuccessful run in Pennsylvania for the U.S, Senate in 2022. His official website states that he is professor emeritus at Columbia University and led the heart institute at New York Presbyterian Medical Center with research interests including heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive surgery, complementary medicine, and health care policy. He has received many patents, including the creation of Mitraclip to repair heart valves without surgery. He has authored over 400 original publications, book chapters, and medical books, and led The Good Life Magazine with Hearst for a decade. He created a newspaper column syndicated by Hearst in 175 markets internationally for 15 years.
He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1982 and obtained a joint MD and MBA in 1986 from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School.
Dr. Oz has also been supportive of Medicare Advantage and during his Senate campaign, called for a “Medicare Advantage for All” plan, Politico reported. He even promoted the benefits of enrolling in Medicare Advantage on a video to his You Tube channel.
“Dr. Oz recognizes the value of Medicare Advantage and the high-quality, affordable, and comprehensive health care it provides to more than 34 million seniors and individuals with disabilities,” Mary Beth Donahue, president and CEO of the advocacy group Better Medicare Alliance, said in a statement after Trump’s announcement. “Medicare Advantage delivers better health outcomes at a lower cost than Fee-For-Service Medicare, which is why more than half of Medicare beneficiaries now choose Medicare Advantage. As the leading research and advocacy group supporting Medicare Advantage, we look forward to working with Dr. Oz to protect and strengthen this vital program for seniors.”