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

The trash heap is getting ever higher. On Thursday, the Senate officially confirmed erstwhile bosom surgeon, TV speech amusement host, and snake lipid peddler Mehmet Oz to caput the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Oz was confirmed on enactment lines, by a 53 to 45 vote. He volition present negociate the federally provided healthcare sum of astir 140 cardinal Americans, including nearly fractional of each children covered nether Medicaid. Given Oz’s way grounds of chicanery, caller staffing losses astatine CMS, and the anticipation that the Trump medication volition soon effort to enact brutal cuts to Medicaid, the concern is looking dire.

Oz is champion known for his years arsenic a daytime TV persona—one bolstered by his archetypal vocation arsenic a surgeon. Following a agelong drawstring of appearances connected The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oz starred successful his ain health-centered program, the Dr. Oz Show from 2009 to 2022. While his namesake amusement was well-received, winning respective Daytime Emmys, Oz often drew contention for his touting of quack aesculapian treatments and health-related products. In possibly the astir infamous example, Oz praised the value nonaccomplishment benefits of greenish java legume extract during a amusement successful 2012.

Soon after, a Florida institution began advertizing their ain greenish java legume merchandise and utilizing Oz’s quotes for support. The company, however, besides created fake quality sites advertizing their merchandise on with unsupported claims astir its effectiveness—actions that led the Federal Trade Commission to complaint the institution with mendacious advertising. The institution yet settled with the FTC for millions and Oz appeared earlier Congress successful 2014 to support his marque of snake lipid selling.

While Oz has agelong been criticized by other doctors for his past of quackery, it was his caller governmental tally for a Senate spot successful Pennsylvania that rankled galore Americans. Oz was unceremoniously scrubbed from Columbia University’s website successful May 2022, ending a 20-year affiliation with the institution. He had officially retired arsenic a prof successful 2018. Oz went connected to suffer his predetermination to John Fetterman (D-Pa).

Though it’s unclear whether Oz’s emotion of crank medicine volition seep into his absorption of CMS, he’s apt to duly transportation retired the worst impulses of the Trump administration. He’s been an avowed Republican for decades, and earlier his Senate run, helium served connected President Trump’s Council connected Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition successful 2018 during Trump’s archetypal term. And there’s small denotation that the Trump White House volition permission Medicare and Medicaid successful bully shape.

For instance, the medication has already begun to axe some 300 jobs from CMS arsenic portion of its DOGE-led inaugural to drastically trim positions crossed the agencies nether the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These occupation losses are apt to worsen people’s entree to healthcare, Democratic lawmakers person argued. GOP politicians person stated that nary cuts to Medicare benefits are planned, but their fund program has called for sweeping cuts that would apt necessitate slashing distant Medicaid astatine the precise least. Some GOP-led proposals would apt pb to radical being removed from their Medicaid plans altogether.

Oz is lone the latest clown to compression into the Trump circus car. But his reign arsenic caput of CMS volition astir surely harm immoderate of the astir susceptible Americans among us.