Prospective CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, has been a major proponent of Medicare Advantage, and has pitched expanding the program to extend coverage to all Americans.
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Oz, a television personality and professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, to lead CMS on Nov. 19.
After hosting the daytime talk series "The Dr. Oz Show" from 2009 to 2022, Dr. Oz earned the nomination for the Pennsylvania Republican party for the U.S. Senate. He was defeated by Democrat John Fetterman.
Dr. Oz has previously backed "Medicare Advantage for All," a proposal to expand the Medicare Advantage program beyond older adults to everyone.
Here are five things to know about Dr. Oz's record on Medicare Advantage:
- In an op-ed published in Forbes in July 2020, Dr. Oz and former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson proposed expanding Medicare Advantage plans to everyone not already enrolled in Medicaid. They proposed rebranding the program as "Medical Advantage," and funding coverage for all citizens through a 20% payroll tax.
In the article, Dr. Oz and Mr. Halvorson argued universal Medicare Advantage could eliminate Medicare fraud as a government expense and reduce administrative costs.
"The complex array of payers in our hodgepodge payment nonsystem that has created a massive administrative burden would shrink significantly — and once instituted, the universal Medicare Advantage plans should be obligated to reduce excess administrative costs by a third," Dr. Oz and Mr. Halvorson wrote in 2020. - During his bid for the Senate, Dr. Oz proposed expanding Medicare Advantage plans to "all Americans who want them," CNN reported in 2022. A spokesperson for Dr. Oz's campaign told the outlet the plan was called "Medicare Advantage plus."
"These plans are high-quality, low-cost, are beloved by seniors, and should be available to everyone who wants them," the spokesperson said. - Dr. Oz and his wife owned up to $550,000 in shares in UnitedHealth Group, the largest Medicare Advantage insurer, and up to $50,000 in shares in CVS Health, campaign disclosures from 2022 show.
- Mary Beth Donahue, CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance, a pro-MA advocacy group backed by insurers, said the group "looks forward to working with Dr. Oz" to strengthen the program.
"Dr. Oz recognizes the value of Medicare Advantage and the high-quality, affordable, and comprehensive health care it provides to more than 34 million seniors and individuals with disabilities," Ms. Donahue said in a Nov. 19 statement. - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Mr. Trump's pick for HHS secretary, does not have clear public views on Medicare and Medicaid, Politico reported. This could give Dr. Oz significant power to chart CMS' course, according to the outlet.
In a Nov. 19 statement on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said Dr. Oz will work closely with Mr. Kennedy to "take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake."
Read more about Dr. Oz's background here.