WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician and former Republican Senate candidate nominated by President Donald Trump to a top U.S. health job, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Friday over his confirmation as administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Oz, who has never held public office, is expected to field questions on industry ties that could create conflicts of interest. CMS is a wide-reaching agency with annual spending of $2.6 trillion that oversees health insurance for more than half of Americans.
Oz, 64, gained national prominence as a cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality, hosting “The Dr. Oz Show” for over a decade, where he dispensed medical advice and, at times, controversial health recommendations.
He is likely to be confirmed. Republicans control the Senate and have been largely supportive of Oz, who in 2022 ran with Trump’s endorsement as the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania and lost. Republicans have backed nearly all Trump’s nominees.
Oz would head Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people aged 65 or older or who have disabilities, oversee Medicaid, the state-based health insurance program for low-income people, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, for low-income children and pregnant women.
He would also run the main program for income-based government-subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Collectively these programs provide coverage for almost 172 million people, government data shows.
Oz’s nomination comes as congressional Republicans push for reductions in Medicaid spending.
Oz would also be responsible for the ongoing implementation of Medicare drug price negotiations, a key provision of former President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.
Democrats are expected to raise concerns over Oz’s past financial ties to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries he would be charged with regulating.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has already called on him to fully disclose and divest all such holdings and to commit to a four-year lobbying ban after leaving office.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Nia Williams)
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