Trump picks TV's 'Dr. Oz' to run Medicare and Medicaid agency

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he will nominate Mehmet Oz, a former Pennsylvania Senate candidate and TV doctor, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades," Trump said in a statement, adding that Oz would work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who Trump wants to head the Department of Health and Human Services, to "take on the illness industrial complex."

Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, faced criticism in 2020, for promoting the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19.

Oz’s TV show aired from 2009 until 2022, when he made an unsuccessful bid for Senate. Oz was defeated by John Fetterman, who flipped the seat for Democrats.

The government position Oz is seeking requires Senate confirmation.

Trump made an appearance on Oz’s television program, “The Dr. Oz Show,” during his 2016 presidential campaign to reveal the results of his physical examination.

CMS is the agency responsible for providing government-based health insurance to more than 160 million people through Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage to children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Trump’s announcement comes as the agency for the first time negotiates drug prices on the costliest prescription drugs under Medicare.

The CMS announced the new prices of its first round of negotiations on 10 drugs, as mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, in August. By February, the government is expected to announce the next 15 drugs up for negotiations. It’s unclear what Trump’s position is on the ongoing negotiations, which are being contested in court by drug companies.