Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Curtain - Doctor Mehmet Oz and The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Author: Christian Seale

Doctor Mehmet Oz

As if written for a mid 2000s sit-com, President Elect and billionaire Donald Trump has selected fellow TV personality Doctor Mehmet Oz to join his White House cabinet and lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. While hiding behind the curtain of unqualified and occasionally illogical cabinet nominations, the professor turned TV star has already made his dangerous intentions for the office clear: Just as the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 calls for, Dr. Oz has come out in support of stripping down Medicaid Services in favor of a privatized, so called “free-market”, system that could leave countless Americans systematically underinsured while limiting competition amongst health insurance providers. He calls this policy “Medicare Advantage For All” and is open about supporting the elimination of Medicare and Employers Sponsored Health Insurance. Unlike the similarly named “Medicare For All”, Dr. Oz’s plan would vastly limit every American’s ability to gain adequate medical insurance. Instead, his policy calls for forcibly enrolling Americans in government sponsored Medicare Advantage plans that could leave tens of millions of Americans underinsured and with less coverage than many of the current medicare systems. This fatally flawed policy masking as efficiency and oversight control will no doubt transfer billions of taxpayer dollars to the insurance industry and its shareholders, while also costing the health and lives of the American public. In order to fund this reckless and unmandated policy change, Dr. Oz has called for a 20% payroll tax to be levied across the country. An additional tax hike that working Americans simply can not afford, much like many of the other policies the incoming administration has advocated for. Doctor Oz’s plans for the future of the Medicare System are clear: Higher Costs, Highers Taxes, Fewer Choices. These are plans the American people can not afford.

Sources:

Weixel, N. (2024, November 21). 5 things to know about dr. oz, Trump’s Pick to oversee Medicare, Medicaid. The Hill. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5000821-trump-oz-cms-medicare-medicaid/