The Department of Health and Human Services is already headed by a vaccine skeptic, and the Trump administration would like to install a TV doctor to run the nation’s most vital health care systems.
Dr. Mehmet Oz sat today for a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss his nomination as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. When asked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) an incredibly basic question — if he would oppose cuts to Medicaid — Oz declined to answer the question directly.
“I cherish Medicaid, and I’ve worked within the Medicaid environment quite extensively, as I highlighted, practicing at Columbia University,” Oz said.
Wyden interjected, restating his request that Oz answer directly.
“I want to make sure that the patients today in the future have resources if they get ill, the way you protect Medicaid is by making sure that it’s viable at every level,” Oz replied, once again skirting the question.
“Let the record show that I asked a witness, who said he cherishes this program, ‘will you agree to oppose cuts,’ and he would not answer a yes or no question,” Wyden told the committee.
Republicans are currently floating vast cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for an extension to Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The GOP’s proposed federal budget calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts to spending over the next decade 2034. The only committee-controlled pool from which the funds could originate is Medicaid, which provides government-funded health insurance to over 70 million Americans.
Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon better known for his decades-long career as a television host, attempted to enter U.S. politics during the 2022 midterms with a failed bid to become a Pennsylvania senator. During his career as a TV host, Oz was scolded by Congress for hawking bogus diet pills, spreading misinformation about arsenic levels in apple juice, and promoting a whole roster of quack cures for very serious illnesses. Even after he was nominated to a position within the Trump administration, Oz continued promoting dubious supplements from companies in which he is an investor.
In a letter issued Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Oz: “I have serious concerns about your ability to adequately fulfill the responsibilities of the position. In particular, I am troubled by your advocacy for completely privatizing Medicare and your deep financial ties to health care companies that receive significant payments from CMS. I lack confidence in your ability to protect Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the millions of Americans that rely on these programs to provide access to the health care they need.
“The agency deserves a leader that is willing to put the interests of patients, providers, and taxpayers first — not an individual that seeks to privatize those programs and has spent much of his career profiting from entities that are squeezing every last health care dollar out of patients and taxpayers,” Warren continued.
While Oz is prepared to take over the health care systems that millions of Americans spend their lives paying into through their taxes, Oz himself may have skirted his contributions to the social program he may soon help gut. According to a Thursday report from Politico, an examination of Oz’s tax returns and financial disclosures by Democrats on the Finance Committee show that between 2021 and 2023, Oz — who as amassed millions in person wealth over his career — paid a pittance in Medicare and Social Security taxes in 2022, and none at all the following year.
Oz claims he cherishes the nation’s public health options, just not enough to actually contribute to them.
