Several key Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week expressing concern about his ties to the insurance industry.
Trump named television personality Mehmet Oz, M.D.—better known as Dr. Oz—as his choice for CMS administrator in mid-November. At the time, Trump said Oz would work closely with Department of Health and Human Services secretary pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "take on the illness industrial complex."
In the letter (PDF), the legislators note that Oz has already articulated his approach to Medicare in his 2022 Pennsylvania Senate run. During that campaign, he pushed to eliminate traditional Medicare and instead afford control of the program to private insurers that run Medicare Advantage (MA).
The letter was signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts; Ron Wyden, D-Oregon; Dick Durbin, D-Illinois; Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon; and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.
The lawmakers say Oz has invested "at least" $550,000 in UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of the largest insurer in MA, UnitedHealthcare. If traditional Medicare were fully replaced by MA, UnitedHealth's revenue from this market would likely double to $274 billion each year, according to the letter.
This is a "glaring conflict of interest," they argue in a press release.
“Given your financial ties to private insurers, combined with your view that the traditional Medicare program is 'highly dysfunctional' and your advocacy for eliminating it entirely, it is not clear that you are qualified for this critical job,” they wrote in the letter.
The letter also slams the MA program broadly, saying insurers "drastically overcharge for care."
It notes that the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimates MA plans will overcharge the government by about $83 billion compared to the traditional program in 2024.
“As CMS Administrator, you would be tasked with overseeing Medicare and ensuring that the tens of millions of seniors that rely on the program receive the care they deserve, including cracking down on abuses by private insurers in Medicare Advantage,” the legislators wrote. “The consequences of failure on your part would be grave. Billions of federal health care dollars—and millions of lives—are at stake.”