In response to Senate Republicans advancing Dr. Mehmet Oz out of committee to be the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“Today, Senate Republicans made it clear they support Donald Trump and Dr. Oz’s overwhelmingly unpopular plans to gut Medicare and Medicaid. Together, these two scam artists will try to rip away health care from seniors, children, and folks in rural America and raise costs on working families just to pay for another tax handout for Trump’s billionaire backers. The American people are already pushing back on Trump’s devastating cuts — they won’t stand for another one of Trump’s unfit and unqualified TV personalities who will make life more expensive.” 

NEW: After Dr. Mehmet Oz bombed his Senate confirmation hearing and doubled down on his plans to help Donald Trump gut Medicare and Medicaid, Senate Republicans voted to advance his nomination as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator. 

Bloomberg News: “The Senate Finance Committee advanced Oz’s nomination Tuesday with a 14-13 vote” 

Sen. Ron Wyden: “Will you agree … to oppose any cuts to the Medicaid program?”

Dr. Mehmet Oz: *Dodges*

Sen. Wyden: “That’s not the question, doctor. The question is, will you oppose cuts to this program?” 

Dr. Oz: *Dodges again*

Sen. Wyden: “Let the record show that I asked a witness who said he cherishes this program, will you agree to oppose cuts? And he would not answer a yes or no question.”

Garrett Haake: “Buried in Oz announcement is this line which suggests cuts to Medicare may be on the table:

“‘He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.’”

Dr. Oz has said he would not have voted for the Affordable Care Act and has a long history of promoting private insurance plans. 

Blavity: “[Oz] explained his belief that ‘health’ is only a right for those who can afford insurance. …

“‘Give them a way of crawling back out of the abyss, of darkness, of fear, over not having the health they need, and give them an opportunity,’ he said in the clip. ‘They don’t have the right to health, but they have a right to access — a chance to get that health.’”

The Lever: “[Dr. Oz’s] program could move seniors and most Americans into private insurance plans that have been raising premiums and denying roughly one in ten medical claims, according to a recent government report finding that the plans frequently refuse to cover services required by Medicare.”

NOTUS: “Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz … called for the ACA to be replaced with privately run Medicare Advantage plans for which he was once a paid spokesperson. … 

“‘I wouldn’t have voted for it,’ Oz tweeted in May.” 

New York Times: “Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor nominated by President Trump to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, has been a relentless promoter of controversial private insurance plans for older Americans.” 

Dr. Oz has a history of attacking Americans’ reproductive freedoms, raising fears he will rip away emergency, life-saving health care from women across the country. 

Rolling Stone: “Trump’s selection of Oz — who has called abortion ‘murder,’ asserted that life begins at conception, and said that reproductive decisions should be between ‘women, doctors, [and] local political leaders’ — to lead the agency has caused alarm for some … 

“Among the senators’ questions are whether Oz would implement recommendations from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy blueprint for Trump’s second term, including directives to limit EMTALA’s protections … and whether he would, as Project 2025 recommends, exclude Planned Parenthood from state Medicaid funds.” 

Dr. Oz’s conflicts of interests would put Americans’ hard-earned benefits at risk.

Washington Post: “Health benefits company co-founded by Dr. Oz could be a conflict of interest”

“Mehmet Oz … co-founded health benefits company ZorroRX with his son last year, according to now-hidden source code and a blog post on the company’s website. … 

“Ethics experts, lawyers and health care analysts say his ties to a health benefits company that could profit off the federal drug program entangle him in a potential conflict of interest. …

“Oz did not disclose his involvement with ZorroRX in his financial forms submitted to the Office of Government Ethics.” 

New York Times: “Dr. Oz: How His Millions Collide With Medicare”

“An examination by The Times of his myriad financial interests revealed not only opaque ties with the industries he may soon regulate but also a coziness with health care companies that lawmakers have already highlighted in questioning his independence. …

“In 2023, he joined iHerb, an online seller of vitamins and supplements, as an adviser and spokesman. In the new financial filing, his investments in iHerb represent one of his largest financial holdings, worth anywhere from $5 million to $25 million. …

“Under the private Medicare plans, customers are allowed to buy over-the-counter medicines and supplements through debit or prepaid cards, another potential conflict for Dr. Oz because of his history with iHerb and other supplement companies.”

REMINDER: Since Day One, Trump has launched attacks on Medicare and efforts to lower drug prices for working families while putting Medicaid on the chopping block to pay for another round of tax handouts for billionaires. 

White House: “The following executive actions are hereby revoked: …

“Executive Order 14009 of January 28, 2021 (Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act). …

“Executive Order 14087 of October 14, 2022 (Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans).”

Sarah Ferris, CNN: “House budget plan is out. Besides 2 years of debt limit + $4.5T in tax cuts and $200B in border, there’s BIG news for fiscal hawks 

“It calls for $2T in *mandatory* cuts, aka Medicaid, since Trump has ruled out Medicare/SS”

Trump: “[T]he House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it! We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget”