Dr. Oz lacks policy experience but has TV show chops. Tom Scully, who led Medicare & Medicaid for President George W. Bush, argues that Oz is well-suited to be a spokesman for Trump's health care agenda.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, nominated to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will sell shares in Eli Lilly and UnitedHealth. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH nominee, will shed stock in Walmart and Nvidia.
The celebrity doctor recently held investments worth tens of millions of dollars in health care, tech, and food companies which could pose significant conflicts of interest.
In announcing his pick, Trump said Oz will work closely with RFK, Jr. "to take on the illness industrial complex." Oz, a celebrity physician, ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2022.
A KHN investigation found when some Medicare Advantage plans got a rare federal audit, they couldn't produce billing records for care they said they'd provided. Some blamed fire, flood — or doctors.
To address the problem of poor care, President Biden is calling for a federal minimum staffing requirement in nursing homes. The nursing home industry says there aren't workers to fill the jobs.
