The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday advanced President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services by a vote of 14-13, splitting along party lines.
Mehmet Oz, known best for his time as a television personality and host of the daytime talk show “The Dr. Oz Show,” was a practicing heart surgeon earlier in his career.
That background makes him uniquely qualified to lead CMS, said Sen. Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
“There is no doubt Dr. Oz will work tirelessly to deliver much needed change at CMS,” Crapo said.
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.
“When I asked him a yes or no question about whether he would protect Medicaid, he dodged and weaved and refused to answer,” said the committee’s top Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon.
Wyden also cited Oz’s history promoting Medicare Advantage plans on his show and claimed that Oz has a “record of dodging Medicare and Social Security taxes.”
“Given Dr. Oz’s history of basically acting as a salesman for Medicare Advantage, putting him in charge of regulating these middlemen would be like letting the fox guard the hen house,” Wyden said.
Still, at his confirmation hearing, Oz vowed to crack down on “overpayments” to Medicare Advantage plans.
“We’re actually apparently paying more for Medicare Advantage than we’re paying for regular Medicare,” he said during the hearing.
If confirmed, Oz would be responsible for the agency that oversees health care coverage for 160 million Americans. He has vowed to work closely with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform.
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