As the new head of Medicare and Medicaid, Mehmet Oz will oversee healthcare for millions of Americans, amidst controversy over his appointment and approaches to health advice.
The 64-year-old Mehmet Oz has been confirmed to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a role that oversees the healthcare of millions of Americans. Despite controversy surrounding his appointment, ‘he was chosen by President Donald Trump last year to head the agency.’
Mehmet Oz is a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon, professor, and politician.
Born on June 28, 1960, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, he graduated from Harvard University and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Oz has written several bestselling books on health and wellness, including 'You: The Smart Patient' and 'You: Having a Baby'.
He served as a professor at Columbia University and was a prominent figure in the Fox News Channel's 'The Dr. Oz Show'.
In 2020, Oz ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania but lost to John Fetterman.
Oz’s background is in medicine, having trained as a surgeon before finding fame on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the early 2000s. However, his approaches have come under scrutiny from health experts, who have criticized him for promoting what they deem to be bad health advice about weight-loss drugs and ‘miracle cures’. He has also suggested using malaria drugs as a cure for Covid-19, a claim that has been widely disputed.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) oversees the country’s largest healthcare programs, providing coverage to roughly half of Americans. It regulates health insurance and sets policy that guides the prices that doctors, hospitals, and drug companies are paid for medical services. The agency plays a critical role in shaping the US healthcare system.
Oz has faced scrutiny over his financial disclosure, with Democrats claiming he may not have paid $403,739 in Medicare taxes on more than $10 million of income from his media company between 2021 and 2023. However, a spokesperson for Oz said a review by the Office of Government Ethics found he had complied with the law.
As CMS begins its new administration under Mehmet Oz’s leadership, there are concerns about how healthcare policy will be shaped. ‘Trump’s transition team had stated that Oz would work closely with US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to ‘take on the illness industrial complex”. The future of healthcare in the US remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: millions of Americans will depend on CMS for their healthcare coverage and services.
