What to know about Dr. Oz, Trump's pick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a key federal agency that oversees health insurance coverage for more than 150 million Americans.
Here’s what to know about his career and views:
Claim to fame: Oz rose to fame as a frequent guest of Oprah Winfrey, eventually launching his own syndicated daytime TV talk show in 2009. Through “The Dr. Oz Show,” which won several daytime Emmy awards and reached millions of viewers, Oz became one of the most well-known doctors in the country.
Foray into politics: Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality, ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2022 in Pennsylvania with Trump’s backing. He lost to Democratic now-Sen. John Fetterman. In 2018, Trump appointed Oz to the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, reappointing him to the position in 2020.
Views on Covid-19: Oz’s views on Covid-19 sparked controversy. Early on in the pandemic, for instance, Oz talked up the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a way to treat the coronavirus — despite the lack of firm scientific evidence that it was an effective treatment. Many of those perspectives were praised by Republicans at the time.
On the Affordable Care Act: Before he ran for Senate, Oz voiced support for Obamacare, CNN’s KFile reported in 2022, though his then-campaign spokesperson walked back those views, saying Oz would not have voted for the landmark health reform law. Still, Oz’s earlier backing of the Affordable Care Act stands in sharp contrast with Trump’s view on the law, which he promised to repeal and replace in his first presidential campaign. Though Trump now says he would not try to get rid of Obamacare, he has repeatedly said he would replace it with a better plan — though the president-elect has not provided details on such a policy.
If confirmed, Oz would be responsible for overseeing the Affordable Care Act exchanges, which have enrolled more than 20 million people in 2024 — a record — between the federal and state-run marketplaces. In Trump’s first term, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pulled back on marketing and enrollment assistance, as well as shortened the sign-up period, leading to a decline in the number of people covered.
Oz has also held other views that are not in line with traditional Republican orthodoxy. As a physician, for example, Oz has said that the government should provide health care coverage to Americans who cannot afford it.
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