Congress recently confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick, Dr. Mehmet Oz, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Medicare and Medicaid provide healthcare insurance to an estimated 136 million Americans, with Medicare serving citizens 65 and older and Medicaid covering lower-income populations. The appointment comes as healthcare remains expensive and out of reach for many Americans, and as Republicans try to figure out ways to improve the country’s fiscal situation.

Oz previously served as the vice chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University, and also directed the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He’s also published five best-selling books, and hosted his own television show and radio talk show.

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Here is what he’s said so far about the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

What Dr. Oz said (or didn’t say) about Medicaid cuts

Both Medicare and Medicaid have been big topics of conversation this year. The programs are enormously costly at a time when the U.S. government just ran a $1.8 billion deficit in fiscal year 2024, meaning it’s spending more than the revenue it collects annually. Total U.S. debt now exceeds $36 trillion.

In late February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that directed the agency overseeing Medicaid to find $880 billion in savings over the next decade. Many surmise this wouldn’t be possible without cuts to Medicaid. Although Trump supported the resolution, he also publicly said that programs like Medicare and Medicaid would not be cut. Senate Republicans, however, have shown some pushback on potential actions that could lead to cuts to Medicaid.

So far, Oz has been tight-lipped on what he thinks about potential cuts to Medicaid, dodging questions during his hearings about the proposals. “I cherish Medicaid,” he said, but it must be “viable at every level.”

He did provide some comments on past changes to the program, such as its expansion under Obamacare. In one of his hearings, Oz said he supports work requirements for receiving Medicaid coverage, although he doesn’t necessarily think paperwork should be a barrier for enrollment. He also said that the program was expanded without providing more resources to doctors, and that doctors don’t like the program due to its lower payments.

These problems, among others, have left the program at a critical juncture. “We have to make some important decisions to improve the quality of care,” said Oz, according to CBS.

Image source: Getty Images.

Thoughts on Medicare Advantage and Biden’s changes

Medicare Advantage (“Part C”) has long been controversial. The program allows private insurance companies to work with the government to provide all other parts of Medicare (A, B, and D) to citizens. Frequent complaints about Medicare Advantage allege that private insurance companies take advantage of the program, by cherry-picking healthier or younger patients and diagnosing patients with more issues in order to receive higher payouts from the government.

“There’s a new sheriff in town,” Oz said, according to The Wall Street Journal. He was critical of practices by insurance companies that overdiagnose: “I pledge if confirmed I will go after it.” However, some senators felt uncomfortable with Oz’s past on Medicare Advantage, because he has filmed videos on YouTube promoting the program. In 2020, he also penned an op-ed suggesting that Medicare Advantage could be used to provide healthcare to everyone, while putting the nation’s healthcare system on a sounder fiscal footing.

Oz does seem supportive of work that CMS began under former President Joe Biden thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which let the agency begin negotiating prices on drugs frequently covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

In 2023, CMS negotiated lower prices on 10 drugs frequently used under Medicare and Medicaid that were expensive for consumers. Earlier this year, negotiations on another 15 drugs were announced. These negotiations are expected to save Americans billions of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses once they go into effect, starting next year.

Of the price negotiation program, Oz said: “It’s the law. I’m going to defend it and use it.”

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