Television personality Dr Mehmet Oz has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The position will oversee Medicare and Medicaid services, as well as plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Known for his show "Dr Oz" and his unsupported homoeopathy recommendations, he represents the latest in a series of controversial nominations by the President-elect. If approved by the Senate, Oz will work alongside Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK) to “take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake”, according to a statement by Trump.
I am honored to be nominated by @realDonaldTrump to lead CMS. I look forward to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under the leadership of HHS Secretary @RobertKennedyJr. pic.twitter.com/aYIQJHG5Ej
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) November 19, 2024
The statement lauded Oz’s expertise, saying that “America is facing a healthcare crisis, and there may be no physician more qualified and capable than Dr Oz to Make America Healthy Again”.
Fingers in the big pharma pie
Oz is a trained cardiothoracic surgeon with a degree in biology magna cum laude from Harvard University and experience working at New York City’s Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University.
However, critics are concerned that Oz’s medical background has become tinted by is celebrity status and (more consequentially) his financial interest in big pharma.
Kedric Payne, VP and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, issued a response to his nomination, which said that “Dr Oz’s past holdings in healthcare, insurance and pharmaceutical companies raise serious concerns about the conflicts of interest he may have as CMS Administrator”.
Oz’s financial disclosures from his Senate run in 2022 reveal that he and his wife owned shares in several pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, Cigna Corporation, CVS, Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth Group.
Pointing to these shares, Payne expressed concerns around Oz’s potentially conflicts of interest in healthcare insurance: “Dr Oz has held significant stock in health insurance giants including United Healthcare and Cigna and in the pharmaceutical company CVS. If confirmed to this position, Dr Oz will hold sway over how Medicare is administered and could make decisions that make those stocks more valuable while adversely impacting the healthcare of millions of Americans.”
Indeed, the new head of the CMS will have a significant impact on Medicare’s next chapter, as the second cycle of negotiations around prescription drug prices looms large on the horizon, due to commence next year.
If the nomination is approved, Oz will also hold influence over medication coverage decisions, and the ACA.
Considering these points after Trump's election earlier this month, Baird’s Biotech specialist and senior research analyst Mike Perrone said: “While a wholesale change or repeal of the ACA seems highly unlikely, a reduction in overall government spending by the administration could lead to some Medicaid cuts, the impact of which would be felt most strongly by health insurers levered to Medicaid and the provider groups.”
Rejected by scientific peers
Having initially risen through a series of appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show (on which Winfrey called him “America’s Doctor”), Oz began his eponymous show in 2009. It ran until 2022 and included recommendations about improving health through a healthy diet and exercise.
However, the show also became a platform for misinformation. In 2014, Oz was questioned by a Senate subcommittee about his endorsements of weight loss products, featured on his show. During the questioning, senator Claire McCaskill told him that “the scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of a few products that you have called miracles.”
Some of the weight-loss products endorsed by Oz include garcinia cambogia and green coffee bean extract, which he promoted in 2012. He told viewers: “You may think magic is make-believe, but this little bean has scientists saying they've found the magic weight-loss cure for every body type. It's green coffee extract.”
In 2018, Oz reached a $5.25m deal in a false advertising class action that accused him of exaggerating the benefits of weight-loss products. The lawsuit included Labrada Garcinia Cambogia Dual Action Fat Buster and Labrada Green Coffee Bean Extract Fat Loss Optimizer.
Questions were also raised about Oz’s attitudes to the Covid-19 pandemic. He promoted anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment early on, despite a lack of research at the time.
Subsequent research has resulted in a statement by the World Health Organization (WHO) in which it said that it “does not recommend hydroxychloroquine to prevent Covid-19”. A total of six trials with over 6,000 participants concluded that hydroxychloroquine was both ineffective and carried the risk of diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain, drowsiness and headache.
The Federation of American Hospitals released a short statement in response to Oz’s nomination yesterday. It read: “We congratulate Dr Mehmet Oz on his nomination to be CMS Administrator, and we look forward to working with the Administration to advance Americans’ healthcare outcomes and protect 24/7 patient care.”
