The expected next leader of the federal Medicare agency recently reposted a social-media photo of himself standing next to his future boss, the secretary of Health and Human Services. Mehmet Oz, 64 years old, was shirtless in swim trunks, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cradled a small lizard. British provocateur Russell Brand lounged on Kennedy’s other side.
The celebrity physician known as Dr. Oz, who faced a Senate hearing last Friday on his bid to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, would bring a different look to a job usually filled by low-key policy wonks.
If confirmed by the Senate as expected, the former television host will take over one of the most politically and financially sensitive agencies in the federal government at a time when it is facing unprecedented challenges, including pressure from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to cut costs.
Oz would be able to deploy a likable persona honed during his years before the camera, as well as a warm relationship with Kennedy, with whom he shares a focus on healthy eating and preventive care. He’s been a skilled surgeon and wealthy businessman. But he has also generated controversy over products highlighted on his show, and he has little background in the nuts-and-bolts of health policy or the federal government, including CMS, which oversees $1.5 trillion in annual spending and the coverage of millions.
Some “150 million Americans will know who he is, and previous administrators, probably no Americans knew who they were,” said Tom Scully, himself a former CMS administrator under President George W. Bush. That means Oz’s policy goals will get attention, Scully said, but he may be a more tempting target for opponents.
Oz has thrown himself into preparing for the role. He has sought out former federal health officials of both parties, as well as industry leaders across major healthcare sectors. People who have met with him say he asks many questions and has patiently sat through detailed tutorials about the bureaucracy he will likely lead.
He has given few concrete indications about his plans. Oz has been a strong supporter of private insurers’ role in Medicare under the program known as Medicare Advantage, at one point writing that uninsured Americans should be covered by such plans. Yet people who have met with him in recent months said he has expressed concern about the fiscal sustainability of federal health entitlements. He has suggested that Medicare Advantage insurers might be overpaid, based on a setup that rewards them for recording patients’ diagnoses, even if those conditions aren’t treated.
Oz “wants the Medicare Advantage program to work, but he wants it to work better,” said Andy Slavitt, a former acting CMS administrator under President Barack Obama who has spoken to Oz. Also, Slavitt said, the longtime heart surgeon is “going to be very focused on making life easier for physicians.”
Oz could seek to ease administrative burdens on doctors dealing with headaches like insurance treatment authorizations, according to Slavitt and others who have met with him. He has also talked enthusiastically about deploying technology like artificial intelligence to improve access to medical care and preventive treatments.
Oz is expected to introduce more of a showman’s sensibility to the traditionally bureaucratic job. He has suggested he may want to hold a series of public meetings around the country to talk to enrollees about Medicare and ways to improve their health, according to people who have spoken with him.
“He’s got bedside manner in aces,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican who is also a physician. “One of the best communicators I’ve ever met, actually, and especially with a microphone in front of him.”
Marshall said he and Oz have talked about the importance of access to healthy food and programs that might encourage Medicare enrollees toward better nutrition. He and Oz also spoke about improving transparency around healthcare pricing and quality ratings, he said, as well as bolstering the role of health-savings accounts.
The son of Turkish-American parents, Oz practiced as a prominent cardiothoracic surgeon and professor at Columbia University’s medical school before he went into television. Appearances on Oprah Winfrey’s show raised his profile enough to get a program of his own. He launched his eponymous television show in 2009.
On camera he cut a trim, dapper figure, whether in surgical scrubs or a suit. John Weiser, a former executive at Sony Pictures Television, which distributed “The Dr. Oz Show,” said he once called the host late at night and found him running on a treadmill while screening recordings of “Dr. Phil” to keep an eye on his competition.
Oz stocked his show’s set with healthy snacks, Weiser said, and over more than a decade of working and traveling together, he never saw Oz eat junk food. “I’ve never seen him go into a fast-food restaurant to grab a burger,” he said.
Medical researchers faulted the Oz show for repeatedly recommending health interventions and treatments without sufficient evidence to justify their use. Oz was featured in a skeptical Senate hearing on “false and deceptive” marketing of weight-loss products. Oz has said he believed in products he discussed and presented multiple points of view.
Oz’s show ended in 2022, when he ran unsuccessfully for Senate in Pennsylvania.
Oz is now worth nearly $100 million at the low end, and potentially more than triple that, based on his financial disclosures, with stakes in dozens of health-oriented companies, including a supplement seller whose products he has promoted.
Oz has promised to divest many of his holdings, including more than $250,000 in UnitedHealth Group, parent of the largest Medicare Advantage plan.
He will be taking on the CMS job at a uniquely difficult moment. The agency oversees the health insurance of more than 160 million Americans, including those on Medicare, which primarily covers older people, and Medicaid, largely for those with low incomes. The agency also regulates health plans sold under the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.
“This is a big and complex agency, and there are a million things you need to do well and manage political and other pressures at the same time,” said Mark McClellan, a former CMS administrator under President George W. Bush who has spoken to Oz.
At CMS’s helm, Oz will likely face bruising fights over health coverage. Congressional Republicans are eyeing deep cuts to Medicaid, as well as a potential halt to extra federal subsidies that many consumers use to purchase ACA plans.
Those moves could result in millions losing insurance—and unleash a political backlash. Only about 17% of Americans, and 35% of Trump voters, want to see Medicaid cuts, according to a February poll by the nonprofit KFF. Hospitals, doctors and state officials are expected to lobby hard against reductions.
Meanwhile, DOGE has been combing through CMS’s systems for waste, and the agency has already seen staff reductions and other changes. Jeff Grant, a former CMS executive who recently retired after nearly 30 years at the agency, said workers there are reeling, making it difficult for a new leader to win their trust and support.
“They continue to get different messages that indicate to them that they should be in fear for their jobs,” he said. “People will be looking to Dr. Oz to assure them that he can protect them, and he cannot give those kinds of assurances.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL