Trump chooses Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

2 months ago 2

GOOD AFTERNOON TO YOU. I’M KATELYN SMITH MATH. WE START WITH COMMITMENT 2020 TO COVERAGE OF THE US SENATE RACE IN PENNSYLVANIA. REPUBLICAN DR. MEHMET OZ ISSUED A STATEMENT JUST WITHIN THE LAST HALF HOUR SAYING HE CALLED DEMOCRAT JOHN FETTERMAN THIS MORNING AND CONGRATULATED HIM ON BECOMING THE NEXT US SENATOR. BUT EVEN BEFORE THAT RACE WAS CALLED LAST NIGHT, I SPOKE TO SUPPORTERS, AS YOU SEE HERE IN BUCKS COUNTY. HE TOOK TO THE STAGE AT THE NEWTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB WHILE HE WAS TRAILING BY ABOUT A PERCENTAGE POINT AT THAT POINT. AND I BELIEVE IN YOU TRAVELED ALL OVER THE COMMONWEALTH TO MAKE THAT MESSAGE CLEAR. TONIGHT, YOU HAVE TOLD ME THAT YOU BELIEVE IN ME. I BLESS YOU FOR THAT. WELL, JOHN FETTERMAN WAS DECLARED THE WINNER JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT. THAT RACE HAD BEEN NECK AND NECK MUCH OF THE DAY. FETTERMAN SHARED THIS ON TWITTER, QUOTE, WE BET ON THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA. AND YOU DIDN’T LET US DOWN. I WON’T LET YOU DOWN. THAT MEANS WIN FLIPS THAT SEAT FROM REPUBLICAN TO DEMOCRAT. HE WILL TAKE OVER FOR REPUBLICAN PAT TOOMEY, WHO DID NOT RUN FOR REELECTION. WE LAUNCHED THIS CAMPAIGN ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO AND WE HAD OUR SLOGAN, IT’S ON EVERY ONE OF THOSE SIGNS RIGHT NOW. EVERY COUNTY, EVERY VOTE, EVERY COUNTY, EVERY VOTE. AND AND THAT’

Trump chooses TV doctor Mehmet Oz to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television talk show host and heart surgeon, to head the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of older, poor and disabled Americans.“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,” Trump said in a statement. “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.”Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, has been an outspoken support of Trump and in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for the nation’s top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.As the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz would report to Kennedy. If confirmed by the Senate, Oz would be responsible for the programs — Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act — that more than half the country relies on for health insurance. Medicaid provides nearly-free health care coverage to millions of the poorest children and adults in the U.S. while Medicare gives older Americans and the disabled access to health insurance. The Affordable Care Act is the Obama-era program that offers health insurance plans to millions of Americans who do not qualify for government-assisted health insurance, but do not get insurance through their employer.“Americans need better research on healthy lifestyle choices from unbiased scientists, and @robertfkennedyjr can help as HHS secretary,” Oz shared in a post on Instagram last week, along with a photo of him and Kennedy together.Oz has been accused of hawking dubious medical treatments and products on his defunct TV show. And during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he pressured government officials to make hydroxychloroquine widely available, despite unresolved questions about its safety and effectiveness.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —

“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,” Trump said in a statement. “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.”

Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, has been an outspoken support of Trump and in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for the nation’s top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

As the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz would report to Kennedy. If confirmed by the Senate, Oz would be responsible for the programs — Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act — that more than half the country relies on for health insurance. Medicaid provides nearly-free health care coverage to millions of the poorest children and adults in the U.S. while Medicare gives older Americans and the disabled access to health insurance. The Affordable Care Act is the Obama-era program that offers health insurance plans to millions of Americans who do not qualify for government-assisted health insurance, but do not get insurance through their employer.

“Americans need better research on healthy lifestyle choices from unbiased scientists, and @robertfkennedyjr can help as HHS secretary,” Oz shared in a post on Instagram last week, along with a photo of him and Kennedy together.

Oz has been accused of hawking dubious medical treatments and products on his defunct TV show. And during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he pressured government officials to make hydroxychloroquine widely available, despite unresolved questions about its safety and effectiveness.

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