Health workers and patients are mobilizing against the appointment of Dr. Mehmet Oz as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), one of several controversial health-related nominations submitted by the Trump presidency. Many have expressed concern over what Dr. Oz’s leadership would mean for the largest US healthcare programs and, consequently, access to healthcare across the country.
If confirmed, Oz would be in charge of over USD 1 trillion and overall coverage administration. While he is a recognized surgeon, he is better known for promoting dubious nutrition advice through his public platforms. Some of this advice is reminiscent of that of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who attacked vaccination programs only to face a severe measles outbreak at the beginning of his tenure, warned Dr. Philip Verhoef from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).
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The biggest concern regarding Oz’s appointment is a previously stated intention to overhaul Medicare and prioritize Medicare Advantage, a program that involves the private sector to fulfill traditional Medicare functions. Health activists warn this would have devastating consequences, funneling billions of dollars from patient care into the pockets of insurance companies. Research from PNHP and other networks has documented how Medicare Advantage is already being used to inflate costs, delaying care—including for cancer patients—while overcharging the government by amounts large enough to provide dental, vision, and hearing coverage to both Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
At the same time, health rights groups have raised alarms about severe conflicts of interest in Oz’s nomination. He holds hundreds of thousands of dollars in shares in corporate groups like UnitedHealth and CVS, both of which directly profit from CMS payments. Speaking at a shadow hearing just hours before Oz’s official Senate Finance Committee appearance on March 14, Dr. Diljeet Singh of PNHP called the situation “surreal,” questioning how such a hearing could even take place. Singh warned that tens of thousands of seniors would likely become underinsured if Oz’s policies and the broader Make America Healthy Again platform are implemented.
In contrast to this scenario, Nancy Hagans of National Nurses United proposed Medicare for All as a unifying demand. “Healthcare should be a right,” she stated, arguing that insurance companies have turned it into a profit-making vessel, and Oz would do nothing to stop it. In fact, pediatrician Dr. Sanjeev Sriram, speaking at the PNHP hearing, warned that when given a choice between health rights and profits, Dr. Oz routinely prioritizes profit. If he is allowed to apply that logic to Medicare and Medicaid, Sriram said, everyone will suffer—not just those directly enrolled in the programs. “All hospitals are connected to Medicare and Medicaid in some way,” he emphasized. “If you think ER wait times are bad now, expect them to get even worse.”
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During his Senate hearing, Dr. Oz avoided giving clear answers about whether he would protect Medicaid from cuts, despite stating that he values the program for supporting millions of people from low-income communities. His refusal to give a clear commitment only intensified fears about Medicaid’s future, with health activists and workers insisting it must be shielded from the Trump administration’s healthcare agenda.
Reginald Brown from VOCAL-NY, who has lived with HIV/AIDS for decades, described Medicaid as a lifeline providing access to critical treatments, some of which cost up to USD 3,000 per month. Brown said Medicaid enabled him to “survive and thrive” and inspired him to fight for access to healthcare. “Without Medicaid, my quality of life would be drastically worse—or I would be dead,” he said.
Healthcare workers and patients reject the future that awaits Medicare and Medicaid under the Trump-appointed health administration, a consensus reached among activists at the PNHP event. “Nurses know the only solution [to the US health crisis] is single-payer,” Hagans said. And, together with other advocates, they are ready to fight for it.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.
