Mehmet Oz, M.D., was confirmed on April 3 to become Administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS). As The Hill’s Joseph Choi reported late on Thursday afternoon, “The Senate has confirmed Mehmet Oz as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), making him the head of Medicaid at a time where its funding is at risk of being severely cut. The Senate voted 53-45 along party lines to confirm Oz.”
Choi noted that “The heart-surgeon-turned-celebrity-physician faced intense questioning by Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee. Oz often dodged providing specific answers, providing generalities. The former Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate notably did not say whether he supported potential GOP cuts to Medicaid. CMS provides coverage for 68 million people on Medicare and 79 million people on Medicaid. Much of what Oz said aligned with the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ agenda led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In his previous career as a television host, Oz garnered criticism for endorsing false or misleading medical claims. In 2018, he agreed to a $5.25 million settlement over a lawsuit in which he was accused of exaggerating the benefits of weight loss supplements,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the New York Times’s Reed Abelson and Susanne Craig wrote late on Thursday that “The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor, 53-45 and along party lines to lead Medicare and Medicaid, which insure nearly half of all Americans. The future of both programs is the subject of fierce debate: Republicans are contemplating significant cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans. The Trump administration and G.O.P. lawmakers have proposed sizable reductions in Medicaid spending in part to find savings to pay for President Trump’s tax-cut package.”
As Abelson and Craig noted, “Dr. Oz, 64, has for years been a vocal proponent of Medicare Advantage, the private insurance plans for older Americans, despite federal inquiries and lawmakers’ concerns that insurers have overbilled the government by tens of billions of dollars a year. He promoted it on his TV show and acted as a broker for one company that sells the plan. At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee last month, he seemed to acknowledge problems with Medicare Advantage, and tried to reassure senators that there was a ‘new sheriff in town.’”
Abelson and Craig noted that “Democrats on the committee grilled him at length about the potential steep cuts to Medicaid, which could result in a substantial number of people becoming ineligible for health coverage. In recent days, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has overseen deep cuts to the Health and Human Services Department, including laying off roughly 10,000 employees on top of another 10,000 buyouts, retirements and departures early on in the new Trump administration. The cutbacks also affect Dr. Oz’s agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has a budget of about $1.5 trillion in annual spending. Still, Dr. Oz has given few clues as to what if any changes he has planned,” they noted.
With regard to risks to Medicaid, the Washington Post’s Lauren Weber wrote late on Thursday that “Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, said there is plenty of reform for Medicaid that ‘can and should be done,’ but she cautioned against a ‘sledgehammer’ approach for Oz.” And she quoted Weber as saying that “Mistakes are very consequential for the folks who rely on Medicaid, often for life-and-death services.”
Further, Weber wrote, “The cardiothoracic surgeon also did not address concerns over multiple potential conflicts of interest he may face as head of CMS, including questions over a health benefits company he co-founded with his son, his prior advertising for weight-loss drugs and his history of endorsing supplements. As head of CMS, Oz says he will focus on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ by focusing on preventive care.”
Weber also quoted Anand Parekh, chief medical adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center, as emphasizing that, in Weber’s words, “Oz has a real opportunity to improve America’s health with investments in preventive, primary and value-based care that he and the Kennedy team have indicated could be on the table.” And she quoted him as saying that, “If CMS wanted to be, they could be the most important prevention agency at HHS,” with Parekh pointing to ways officials could invest in saving money on preventing elder adult falls or focusing on other chronic care services.
