Dr. Oz Could Lead Medicare And Medicaid—Here's How Trump ...

9 hours ago

Forbes

Topline

President-elect Donald Trump tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday, nominating the television host and former Senate candidate to lead the division as his administration reportedly eyes cuts to Medicaid and a bigger role for Medicare’s private alternative.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is greeted by former president Donald Trump at a rally on September 3, 2022 in ... [+] Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Getty Images Key Facts

Oz—a surgeon-turned-television personality who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania—has been nominated to serve as CMS administrator, a division of the government’s broader health agency.

The role would give Oz control over the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Medicare: Trump and the Republican National Committee vowed in their party platform not to cut Medicare, but Oz and Republicans have advocated for Medicare Advantage, a paid alternative to traditional Medicare coverage that’s managed through private insurers.

Republicans have already floated elevating the paid program for seniors: The America First Policy Institute, which is reportedly advising Trump’s transition team, has called for auto-enrolling people in Medicare Advantage rather than Medicare, though both choices would still be available.

Oz—who has pushed Medicare Advantage on his show—went beyond that proposal on the Senate campaign trail and in the years prior, calling in a 2020 Forbes op-ed for Medicare Advantage coverage to be extended to all Americans not already enrolled in Medicaid, which would be paid for by a 20% increase to Americans’ payroll taxes (there isn’t any indication the Trump administration is considering this idea, which would mark a significant expansion of the federal government’s role in health insurance).

Medicaid: While Oz has not said anything about his plans for Medicaid, The Washington Post reported Monday Trump’s advisers are considering cuts to the program in order to pay for extending provisions in the 2017 tax law, which would reportedly cost approximately $4 trillion over the next decade and primarily benefit richer Americans.

It’s still unclear what those cuts could look like in practice, the Post reports, but ideas under consideration—many of which would require Congress—include imposing work requirements in order to be eligible for Medicaid and establishing caps on Medicaid spending.

Affordable Care Act: It’s unclear what the fate of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, could look like under Trump, as the president-elect has suggested he will keep the ACA in place “unless we can do something much better,” but declined to specify at the presidential debate what any alternative could be, saying only that he had “concepts of a plan.”

One cost-cutting option that could be on the table is letting Biden-era federal subsidies for health insurance premiums expire next year without renewing them, multiple outlets project, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would deprive 3.4 million people each year from having health insurance versus making those subsidies permanent.

What To Watch For

Oz still has to be confirmed by the Senate in order to take control of the health agency, and it’s still unclear how many senators would or would not support him. Politico reports senators had “mixed” reactions in the immediate aftermath of Oz’s nomination, with Democrats largely opposing the pick while Republicans expressed openness. Senate Health chair Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he was “glad to hear” of Oz’s appointment, for instance, while Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., called Oz “a great TV doctor with quack weight-loss recommendations” and said there was a “ways to go” before he would support the nominee. Oz could be confirmed without any Democrats voting for him, given Republicans’ impending Senate majority. But he still could get some Democratic support: Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., Oz’s former Senate election rival, tweeted he would be open to voting for Oz despite their contentious race, writing, “If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude.”

Big Number

1 in 5. That’s the approximate share of Americans who are on Medicaid, according to KFF, with the federal government reporting 72.4 million people were enrolled in the program as of July. CMS provides healthcare to more than 160 million Americans overall, according to the agency, between Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP and coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

Will Trump’s Tax Plans Impact Medicare?

Trump separately proposed on the campaign trail to eliminate taxes on Social Security payments. If enacted, that proposal could actually cause Medicare to run out sooner, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projected, noting taxes paid by seniors earning more than $34,000 on their Social Security payments go toward Medicare’s trust fund. Should that tax go away, Medicare would run out of money by 2030, the committee estimated, six years sooner than the current projected insolvency date in 2036.

Chief Critic

Oz has long garnered criticism from the medical community for making health claims and pushing products on his television show that are not backed by scientific evidence. Pennsylvania doctors launched a “Real Doctors Against Oz” campaign during his Senate race claiming the then-candidate would pose “a major threat to public health” if elected, and doctors wrote an open letter to Columbia University in 2015 opposing the university appointing Oz to its faculty, claiming the doctor “has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.” Oz has continued to promote disputed health claims and products, including touting the use of hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic and marketing supplements on social media.

Key Background

Oz is one of several controversial high-level appointments Trump has made to his administration in the two weeks since his election, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Oz’s nomination also comes after Trump already made waves in the health community for naming Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as health and human services secretary, despite Kennedy’s history of opposing vaccines and policies like fluoride in the public water supply. CMS is a division of the broader health agency, meaning Oz would report to Kennedy if they are both confirmed by the Senate. Oz was trained as a heart surgeon and rose to prominence through his appearances on Oprah Winfrey’s daytime talk show, which led to him getting his own program, “The Dr. Oz Show,” beginning in 2009. He has been allied with Trump since his Pennsylvania Senate race when Trump endorsed him during the GOP primary, calling Oz “brilliant” and saying, “You know when you’re in television for 18 years, that’s like a poll. That means people like you.” Oz went on to narrowly lose to Fetterman, who carried the race with 51.2% of the vote.