 "Trump picks reality TV fame 'Dr Oz' for Medicare role")
US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Mehmet Oz, best known as Dr. Oz, to serve as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that oversees the healthcare of over 150 million Americans.
Dr. Oz, a doctor and a former TV host, will “work closely” with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary, “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”
According to a report by The Guardian, the Kennedy and Oz combination in leading health policy roles will possibly receive significant pushback from health organisations.
It further said that Oz’s role does not require Senate confirmation, while Kennedy’s does.
Trump’s expectations from Dr. Oz
In a statement, announcing the nomination of Dr. Oz, Trump said, “America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.”
“Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivising 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 said in the statement.
The US President-elect further said that he is “confident” that Dr. Oz will “fight to ensure everyone in America receives the best possible Healthcare, so our country can be Great and Healthy Again!”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTrump continues to surprise with his nominations
With the selection of Dr. Oz, Trump continues with the pattern of appointing television personalities to federal agencies. He has picked his Defence and Transportation nominees who are from Fox News and Fox Business.
Agency observers did not expect that Trump would choose Dr. Oz for the role of administrator of the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, particularly given the potential leadership of RFK Jr in the health department.
Who is Dr. Oz, Trump’s pick to run Medicaid?
Oz, 64, is a trained cardiac surgeon with Turkish heritage before finding fame on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the early 2000s after which he started to host his own TV programme - The Dr Oz Show, where he gives health advice to viewers.
He, however, lacks experience in federal administration.
Criticism against Dr. Oz
In 2014, during Senate hearings, Oz was criticised for endorsing unproven pills that he said would “literally flush fat from your system” and “push fat from your belly”.
He has also drawn criticism from experts for promoting what they called was bad health advice about weight loss drugs and “miracle” cures.
During the initial days of Covid-19 pandemic, Oz suggested anti-malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as a cure, which experts confirmed were ineffective against the virus.
What Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services do?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services oversee America’s largest healthcare programs and provides health coverage to more than 150 million people in the US.
It regulates health insurance and sets policy that guides the prices that doctors, hospitals and drug companies are paid for medical services.
With inputs from agencies.
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