Trump picks TV’s Dr. Oz to run Medicare, Medicaid

President-elect Donald Trump tapped celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday to oversee his administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Trump characterized Oz as perhaps the most qualified physician for the job in a Tuesday statement. Oz received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine before teaching surgery at Columbia University. He gained national recognition as a health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show, before hosting The Dr. Oz Show for over a decade. The famous doctor made his political debut in 2022 with a failed run for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Oz’s appointment came days after Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

What’s Trump’s vision for Medicare and Medicaid? Oz will boost the effectiveness of the country’s Medicare and Medicaid systems by starting to incentivize disease prevention, Trump’s statement said. Oz will also focus on cutting waste and rooting out fraud so the health services will no longer account for nearly a quarter of the national budget, the statement added.

Trump said Oz would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on what Trump called the illness industrial complex and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.

Dig deeper: Read Emma Freire’s report in WORLD Magazine about Trump’s other administrative appointees.