The Senate confirmed former television host and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz on Thursday to oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal program that controls healthcare for millions of Americans.
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According to the BBC, the Republican-led Senate voted 53-45 to confirm Oz for the role. Though the 64-year-old has never held public office, he was nominated last year by President Donald Trump, who praised his expertise as a step toward “making America healthy again.”
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is the country’s largest payer for health care
The CMS is a federal agency providing 160 million Americans with health coverage through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace. Marginalized groups like low-income families, pregnant women, older adults, people with disabilities, and people who need long-term care are covered with health insurance under this program, according to the website.
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‘I commit to doing whatever I can‘
During his confirmation hearing last month, Oz pledged to help Americans take greater control of their healthcare while targeting fraud, waste and abuse within federal safety net programs. He also aims to address chronic diseases that lead to excessive federal health spending, USA Today reported.
“I commit to doing whatever I can, working tirelessly, to ensure that CMS provides Americans with access to superb care, especially Americans who are our most vulnerable — our young, our disabled and our elderly,” Oz said.
Oz will also work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who leads the Department of Health and Human Services, under which CMS operates, per the outlet.
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Oz was a cardiothoracic surgeon before he began appearing as a celebrity health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the early 1990s. Years later, he launched The Dr. Oz Show, a daytime program that ran for 13 seasons and served as a platform to discuss health and wellness topics with viewers and live audiences.
He faced scrutiny for pushing weight-loss cures and the remarks he made during the COVID-19 pandemic to cure the disease. According to The New York Times, Oz appeared on Fox News promoting the malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as treatments for COVID-19 despite concerns about their potential health risks.
