President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday picked television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to make America Healthy Again. He is an eminent physician, heart surgeon, inventor and world-class communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.
In the position, Dr. Oz will work closely with Mr. Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Dr. Oz is the third pick Mr. Trump has plucked from the television airwaves to serve in his administration. He hosted a syndicated daytime television show for 13 years which featured segments on health, wellness, medical information and celebrity interviews.
In 2022, Dr. Oz ceased production of the show to run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Trump was a staunch advocate of Dr. Oz’s Senate bid, recording robocalls and making direct appeals to Pennsylvania voters. However, he lost to Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat.
Other television personalities picked by Mr. Trump for high-ranking positions in his administration are Pete Hegseth, who was chosen to be defense secretary and Sean Duffy, who was selected to serve as transportation secretary. Both men host shows for Fox News and/or its sister networks.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that administers the Medicare program and works with state governments to administer Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and health insurance probability standards.
It also inspects and reports on every nursing home in the United States, rating them on a five-star scale.
About 6,000 workers are employed by the agency, including 4,000 who are located at its headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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