US President-elect Donald Trump (link) announced Tuesday that he was marrying television personality and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a sprawling agency with $2.6 trillion in annual spending.
Trump, who supported Oz in his unsuccessful 2022 run for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, said he would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (left), nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Oz said in a post on the social media website X that he looked forward to “serving my country to make America healthy again under Kennedy’s leadership.”
Trump said the two would fight “the disease industrial complex and all the terrible chronic diseases that lie in its wake” and curb what he said was waste and fraud.
“Our broken health care system is hurting every single American and straining our country’s budget,” Trump said in a statement.
The agency administers Medicare, the national health insurance program for people aged 65 and over and for the disabled. The office also oversees Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income people that is jointly funded by states and the federal government. The two programs provide health insurance to over 140 million Americans.
The agency also handles much of the enrollment in income-based, government-subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Trump and other Republicans previously tried to repeal the law, but now just want to revise it.
His nomination is likely to provoke less negative reaction from drug companies than that of Kennedy, who has been an outspoken critic of drugmakers, said BMO analyst Evan Seigerman.
“While Oz is controversial and a well-known TV personality, his stance on expanding Medicare coverage and addressing pricing challenges could prove positive for the industry in the long term,” he wrote in a note.
Oz has been a regular Fox News commentator during the COVID-19 pandemic and a proponent of unproven treatments for COVID-19, including hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug whose use against the disease was also supported by Trump.
Oz questioned the Biden administration’s COVID-19 pandemic policies on social media, including the mask policy, saying they ignore science and are based on a lack of data.
In 2020, in a column published in Forbes magazine, he advocated expanding Medicare Advantage plans, in which insurers manage government-paid health care benefits for all Americans not enrolled in Medicaid.
Oz promoted Medicare Advantage on his talk show that aired between 2009 and 2022, in segments sponsored by a website that sells the plans.
Shares of all major U.S. health insurers rose modestly following the decision, with UnitedHealth UNH, Humana 
HUM and Molina Healthcare 
MOH gained between 1 and 2 percent in after-hours trading.
Trump promised during his campaign not to cut Medicare, but he is expected to phase out federal subsidies for Medicaid at the end of 2025.
After RFK Jr.’s appointment last week, Oz told Fox News that he knew the nominee for health secretary personally. The post still needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
1. Tell us about your vision for the role of Dr. Mehmet Oz in reforming the healthcare system as the new administrator for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Trump administration. How do you plan to work with him to ensure that the American public has access to quality and affordable healthcare?
2. In your opinion, what are the key challenges faced by the healthcare sector currently, and how do you plan to address these issues in your roles as President-elect and nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary respectively?
3. How do you intend to tackle the controversies surrounding Dr. Oz’s endorsement of unproven COVID-19 treatments and his critical stance on President Biden’s pandemic policies? Do you believe this could influence his ability to effectively manage the CMS?
4. The Medicare Advantage plans have been a topic of interest for Dr. Oz in the past. How do you intend to expand these plans, and what impact could this have on the healthcare industry?
5. One of President Trump’s campaign promises was to not cut Medicare. However, he is expected to phase out federal subsidies for Medicaid at the end of 2025. What are your views on this decision, and how will it affect low-income populations who rely on Medicaid for their healthcare needs?
6. What role do you envision the private sector playing in the future of healthcare reform, and how do you plan to encourage collaboration between the public and private sectors to improve healthcare outcomes?
