President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees coverage for more than 155 million Americans through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Dr. Oz has a medical degree and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania and spent 17 years as a professor of surgery at Columbia University. In 2015, ten prominent U.S. doctors urged the university to cut ties with Oz, stating he had “repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine.” The university has since distanced itself from him.
According to his 2022 Senate campaign financial disclosures, Oz held:
- UnitedHealth Group stake worth up to $600,000
- Amazon shares valued at up to $2.4 million
- Investments in CVS Health and Cigna
- Stakes in fertility treatment providers worth up to $6 million
- Smaller stakes worth up to about $50,000 in companies manufacturing at least four of the ten drugs selected for Medicare price negotiations
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As Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stated: “It’s obvious that over the years he’s cultivated an interest in the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry. That raises a question of whether he can be trusted to act on behalf of the American people.”, as reported by KFF health news, whose publisher is on the CSPI board.
In 2020, Oz co-wrote an opinion piece in Forbes suggesting “an affordable 20% payroll tax” to fund a “Medicare Advantage For All” program. Jeffrey Singer of the Cato Institute expressed uncertainty about “Dr. Oz’s familiarity with health care financing and economics.”
A 2014 study found that 46% of the health claims shared on “The Dr. Oz Show” were supported by a case study or better evidence, while 15% contradicted available evidence. He faced Senate questioning in 2014 for promoting products such as green coffee beans, claiming they were “magic” and “miracle” options for weight loss. The authors of a paper claiming the benefits of green coffee bean extract admitted the data was altered and retracted the study, and the Federal Trade Commission extracted a $9 million settlement from the company behind the product, which Oz had invested in.
CMS currently:
- Oversees coverage for more than 160 million Americans
- Manages approximately $1.4 trillion in annual federal spending (as of 2023 CBO infographic)
- Administers Medicare for over 67 million enrollees
- Oversees drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act
Trump stated: “America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.” He added that Oz will work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”
Senator John Fetterman, who defeated Oz in the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race, stated on the social platform X: “If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude.”
