Mehmet Oz, M.D., more commonly known by his television moniker Dr. Oz, has been approved by the Senate to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Senators voted 53-45 along party lines in favor of the nomination, which would place the thoracic surgeon at the head of more than 160 million Americans' health coverage. A procedural vote earlier in the day to advance his nomination was passed 50-45 along party lines.
He enters the role at a time of major upheaval. Congressional Republicans and the administration have outlined major reductions to federal health through, respectively, major spending cut targets within the ongoing budget reconciliation process and a slew of layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Within CMS—which was relatively unscathed with about 300 job cuts—those cuts reportedly included the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, the Office of Minority Health and the Office of Program Operations and Local Engagement.
Ahead of, during and after Oz’s March 14 Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing—which proved much less confrontational than those of his new boss, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—Senate Democrats criticized Oz’s history as a spokesperson of private Medicare Advantage plans and broad support of the privatized program, which drives higher spending than traditional Medicare.
They also pointed to financial conflicts of interest—from which the nominee has pledged to divest—stated support for Medicaid work requirements and the expectation that he would fall in line with the more controversial portions of RFK Jr.’s agenda. The latter of these has become particularly pertinent to the lawmakers as the secretary undercuts long-established public health practices around vaccination and his overhauls of the health department come into clearer light.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, in comments made on the floor ahead of the final vote, voiced his opposition by underscoring Oz’s alleged “record of dodging Medicare and Social Security Taxes. If confirmed, the person running the Medicare program thinks it’s acceptable to not pay the taxes he owes into the programs he’s running,” he said.
Wyden also reiterated a line of questioning from the confirmation hearing around whether Oz would support a Biden administration final rule that would increase clinical staffing at nursing homes, which Republicans and industry groups have described as debilitating. Oz, at the time, told the senator the issue was complicated and pointed to expanded use of technology as a potential solution.
“Dr. Oz is great on TV, but seems to have no understanding that technology is no replacement for real nurses and medical staff,” Wyden said Thursday. “That attitude is going to have a real impact as Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress pursue nearly one trillion in Medicaid cuts to achieve their billionaire tax breaks, which House Republicans have already passed.”
Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, applauded Oz’s professional background and commitment to tackling administrative issues such as burdensome prior authorization requirements and upcoding or other instances of fraud within programs like Medicare Advantage. They also commended his promise to incentivize healthier lifestyle choices, echoing the tenets of RFK Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again platform.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, spoke approvingly of Oz’s stated desire to modernize the CMS and tackle chronic disease ahead of Thursday’s procedural vote.
"I'm confident that his years spent as a leading physician and public health advocate make him duly qualified to accomplish these goals,” Crapo said, adding that Oz’s disclosures and responses to lawmaker concerns “had clearly met the standard of the finance committee’s arduous nomination process.”
Among those were questions from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who had signaled he may break from his colleagues on the vote over Oz’s previous positions on hard-line conservative issues like transgender advocacy and abortion. Oz earlier this week replied to the lawmaker by aligning himself with the administration’s anti-abortion and anti-gender affirming care policies and promising to enforce executive orders on the issues.