President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Mehmet Oz, a physician, TV personality and former Republican candidate for Senate, to run Medicare and Medicaid as administrator for the CMS.
“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 his announcement on social media platform Truth Social.
The CMS oversees the healthcare coverage of more than 160 million Americans, or around half the U.S. population, through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Affordable Care Act plans.
Federal health programs have been the subject of recent turmoil. Millions of low-income people and children are being disenrolled from Medicaid after subsidies put in place during the COVID-19 public health emergency expired. In Medicare, lawmakers are contending with the program’s looming insolvency, in addition to how to effectively regulate and stop fraud in privately run Medicare Advantage plans.
Oz’s nomination comes less than a week after Trump tapped prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the HHS, which oversees the CMS. If both are confirmed by a majority of the Senate, Oz would report to Kennedy.
“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 wrote in his announcement.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the incoming chair of the Senate committee overseeing healthcare, posted on X that he was glad to hear of Oz’s nomination.
“It has been over a decade since a physician has been at the helm of CMS, and I look forward to discussing his priorities,” wrote Cassidy. “This is a great opportunity to help patients and implement conservative health reforms.”
As news of the nomination spread, others weighed in.
“Even putting aside the raft of alarming pseudoscience Dr. Oz has previously endorsed, it is deeply disappointing to see someone with zero qualifications being announced to head up such a critical agency,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement. “… I am also profoundly concerned by the extreme anti-abortion views Dr. Oz holds — CMS has oversight over a wide range of reproductive health care issues and the last thing women in America need is more extremist Republicans getting involved in their personal health care decisions.”
Rick Weissenstein, an analyst at TD Cowen, wrote in a note, “The one-two punch of Oz and RFK, Jr. will, if confirmed, likely mean the CMS will be less predictable for the foreseeable future.”
Best known for his eponymous Dr. Oz Show, which ended in 2022, Oz also ran an unsuccessful campaign for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Trump endorsed Oz during his campaign.
Oz has espoused conflicting visions for healthcare. Prior to running for office, Oz supported health insurance mandates and proposed a Medicare Advantage for All program. However, by 2022, Oz said he would back repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure currently serves as the CMS administrator.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated with additional comments about Oz’s nomination and details about his previous healthcare stances.