Snake Oil Guru Dr. Oz Will Now Oversee Medicare and Medicaid for 140 Million People

The trash pile is getting ever larger. On Thursday, the Senate formally confirmed former coronary heart surgeon, TV speak present host, and snake oil peddler Mehmet Oz to move the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies.

Oz was confirmed alongside occasion traces, by a 53 to 45 vote. He’ll now handle the federally supplied healthcare protection of round 140 million People, together with nearly half of all children lined below Medicaid. Given Oz’s observe document of chicanery, latest staffing losses at CMS, and the chance that the Trump administration will quickly try to enact brutal cuts to Medicaid, the scenario is wanting dire.

Oz is greatest recognized for his years as a daytime TV persona—one bolstered by his first profession as a surgeon. Following an extended string of appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Present, Oz starred in his personal health-centered program, the Dr. Oz Present from 2009 to 2022. Whereas his namesake present was well-received, successful a number of Daytime Emmys, Oz continuously drew controversy for his touting of quack medical remedies and health-related merchandise. In maybe essentially the most notorious instance, Oz praised the load loss advantages of inexperienced espresso bean extract throughout a present in 2012.

Quickly after, a Florida firm started promoting their very own inexperienced espresso bean product and utilizing Oz’s quotes for help. The corporate, nevertheless, additionally created faux information websites promoting their product together with unsupported claims about its effectiveness—actions that led the Federal Commerce Fee to cost the corporate with false promoting. The corporate finally settled with the FTC for millions and Oz appeared earlier than Congress in 2014 to defend his model of snake oil promoting.

Whereas Oz has lengthy been criticized by other doctors for his lengthy historical past of quackery, it was his latest political run for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania that rankled many People. Oz was unceremoniously scrubbed from Columbia College’s web site in Might 2022, ending a 20-year affiliation with the establishment. He had formally retired as a professor in 2018. Oz went on to lose his election to John Fetterman (D-Pa).

Although it’s unclear whether or not Oz’s love of quack drugs will seep into his administration of CMS, he’s more likely to duly perform the worst impulses of the Trump administration. He’s been an avowed Republican for many years, and earlier than his Senate run, he served on President Trump’s Council on Sports activities, Health, and Vitamin in 2018 throughout Trump’s first time period. And there’s little indication that the Trump White Home will go away Medicare and Medicaid in fine condition.

For example, the administration has already begun to axe some 300 jobs from CMS as a part of its DOGE-led initiative to drastically trim positions throughout the businesses below the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies. These job losses are more likely to worsen people’s access to healthcare, Democratic lawmakers have argued. GOP politicians have acknowledged that no cuts to Medicare advantages are deliberate, however their price range plan has referred to as for sweeping cuts that may possible necessitate slashing away Medicaid on the very least. Some GOP-led proposals would possible result in folks being faraway from their Medicaid plans altogether.

Oz is just the most recent clown to squeeze into the Trump circus automobile. However his reign as head of CMS is nearly definitely to hurt a few of the most susceptible People amongst us.