Trump names Dr. Oz to lead Medicare and Medicaid

President-elect Donald Trump tapped Dr Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator.

The physician, TV personality, and failed Pennsylvania Senate candidate is the latest addition to Trump’s list of controversial cabinet picks.

“I am very pleased to nominate Dr Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator,” Trump announced on Tuesday afternoon. “America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.”

The 64-year-old will work with Robert F Kennedy Jr, who Trump nominated last week to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake,” the president-elect continued.

CMS, an agency within HHS, oversees health care programs that provide coverage to more than 160 million Americans through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Health Insurance Marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

“Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country’s budget. Dr Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country,” Trump said. “He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.”

Trump listed Dr Oz’s pedigree, from his degrees to his daytime Emmys, writing: “I have known Dr. Oz for many years, and I am confident he will fight to ensure everyone in America receives the best possible Healthcare, so our Country can be Great and Healthy Again.”

The nomination comes two years after Dr Oz lost the contentious 2022 Pennsylvania senate race to Democrat John Fetterman.

After Trump’s announcement, Fetterman told a NOTUS reporter on Tuesday that there was no animosity between him and his former political rival: “We do have a history, but I don’t have any bitterness. I don’t hold anything against him, as long as he’s willing to protect and preserve Medicaid and Medicaid.”

Trump backed Oz in that race, explaining at the time that the pair go way back. The TV doctor was kind to him when he appeared on his show because he appreciated that he was a ‘healthy specimen’: “He always treated me well. He said I’m a very healthy specimen which I liked very much. He said ‘if you lost a couple of pounds that would be OK too’, but that’s alright.”

Dr Oz served as an unofficial adviser to Trump as he navigated the Covid-19 pandemic but has been scrutinized for promoting some questionable medical treatments, including hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 and a combination of a pregnancy hormone and a 500-calorie diet to spur weight loss.

When asked about his abortion stance during his debate against Fetterman, the then-GOP candidate said: “I want women, doctors, local political leaders letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.”