Nov. 19 (UPI) — TV personality and former Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz would lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the agency’s new administrator if approved.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced Oz as his choice to lead the federal agencies that provide healthcare services for the low-income households and senior citizens.
“I have known Dr. Oz for many years,” Trump said in a statement announcing the appointment. “I am confident he will fight to ensure everyone in America receives the best possible healthcare, so our country can be great and healthy again!”
Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon and challenged now-Sen. John Fetterman for an open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022, which Fetterman won.
Oz previously served on the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition in 2018 and again in 2020 during Trump’s first term as president.
The Senate would have to confirm Oz’s appointment to lead Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Although Oz has no experience managing a federal agency, Trump said “there may be no physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to make America healthy again.”
Oz gained fame as a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and eventually hosted his own daytime talk show called “The Dr. Oz Show,” which ran from 2009 to 2022.
Oz’s show discussed health, wellness and true crime and was co-produced by Harpo Studios, which is owned by Winfrey.
Oz ended the show when he undertook is ill-fated campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2022.
While the show aired, it won nine Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding talk show and host.
