(WHTM) – President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate former Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is the federal agency that provides health coverage to more than 160 million people through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Oz lost Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race to John Fetterman in 2022 after beating Dave McCormick in the Republican primary by less than 1,000 votes. Oz’s victory in the crowded primary came after Trump endorsed him in the final stretch of the race. Oz went on to lose the Senate race to Fetterman, who had suffered a stroke during the primary, by more than 263,000 votes.
Prior to running for Senate in 2022, Oz hosted the Dr. Oz Show and was a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey’s show providing medical advice that opponents called “quack” medicine. Oz graduated from Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Wharton Business School. Since losing the Senate race Oz became a “Global Advisor and Stakeholder” to the health supplement company iHerb and filmed an advertisement with Mike Tyson prior to his fight with Jake Paul.
“Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country’s budget,” said Trump in his announcement on Tuesday afternoon. “Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country. He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.”
Trump says he plans to have Oz work closely with his nominee for Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”
“I have known Dr. Oz for many years, and I am confident he will fight to ensure everyone in America receives the best possible Healthcare, so our Country can be Great and Healthy Again!,” said Trump.
Oz praised Kennedy Jr.’s nomination on social media, saying “Americans need better research on healthy lifestyle choices from unbiased scientists” and congratulated Trump on “a historic victory.”
Oz is not the first television personality to be nominated by Trump ahead of his second term. Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth was nominated for Secretary of Defense and Fox News contributor Sean Duffy was tapped to head the Department of Transportation.
