President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he was picking former talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Trump said in a statement that Oz, a cardiologist and Columbia University professor emeritus who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Pennsylvania two years ago, would work closely with Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”
“Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country,” added Trump, 78.
“He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.”
Oz is best known as the host of the syndicated “Dr. Oz Show,” which ran from 2009 to 2022 — after first gaining fame as a recurring guest on Oprah Winfrey’s program.
The nominee is a dual US-Turkish citizen and his links to Ankara, including working for Turkish Airlines as a paid promoter and consultant, were controversial in his bitter 2022 GOP primary against businessman Dave McCormick, whom Oz narrowly defeated in the primary with Trump’s backing.
Oz, who lost the general election to Democrat John Fetterman, previously vowed to give up his Turkish citizenship if he were to enter the Senate, where he would have been the first Muslim member of that chamber.
McCormick ultimately won a Senate seat this year — defeating incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in the Nov. 5 election.
Oz reportedly is a favorite of Trump’s wife Melania, and the president-elect has spoken highly of his ability to relate to the public.
“He’s on that screen,” Trump said in a speech two years ago.
“He’s in the bedrooms of all those women.”
