The Senate Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 53-45, on a party-line vote.
The confirmation of Mehmet Oz, known best for his time as a TV personality and host of the daytime talk show “The Dr. Oz Show,” will put him in charge of the federal agency responsible for overseeing health insurance coverage for 160 million people through Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and more.
Oz, who unsuccessfully sought a U.S. Senate seat against Democrat John Fetterman in Pennsylvania in 2022, was also a practicing heart surgeon earlier in his career — job experience which Republicans praised as a qualification for the position.
“You offer a wealth of firsthand experience and expertise, having studied, practiced and taught as an accomplished physician,” Sen. Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said to Oz during his confirmation hearing last month. “In short, you understand how D.C. legalese looks on the ground and how policy plays out in practice.”
Still, Oz faced criticism from Democrats who say he has dodged paying Medicare and Social Security taxes.
“The person running the Medicare program thinks it’s acceptable to not pay the taxes he owes into the programs he’s running,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, said Thursday on the Senate floor.
During a Finance Committee vote on Oz last month, some Democrats said they voted against Oz for not unequivocally saying he would protect Medicaid from cuts House Republicans are considering as part of their budget measure.
As CMS administrator, however, Oz would be fairly limited in what he could do if Congress directed him to implement cuts, though the agency would partly be responsible for implementing whatever changes Congress approves.
The agency has been fairly quiet since Trump took office, though it did propose a marketplace rule that would make it more difficult for people to sign up for coverage.
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