Senate Panel Advances Nomination of Dr. Oz to Head Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Democrats are skeptical of the nominee’s views on Medicaid funding while Republicans support his plans to improve the program.

Republican Pennsylvania Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks at an event with Nikki Haley in Harrisburg, Pa., on Oct. 26, 2022. Mark Makela/Getty Images

Dr. Mehmet Oz moved a step closer to becoming administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as the Senate Committee on Finance recommended his confirmation on March 25.

President Donald Trump nominated Oz to lead the agency that administers health coverage payments for more than 160 million people and spends one in five taxpayer dollars through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Oz, formerly an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and professor of surgery at Columbia University, is best known as the celebrity host of a long-running syndicated television program featuring health-related topics.

His nomination advanced to the full Senate on a 14–13 party-line vote, with Republicans supporting the nomination.

The confirmation vote comes as lawmakers consider budget cuts that may include Medicaid spending. The president has said he will not allow cuts to the program other than those that constitute waste, fraud, or abuse.

Democrats have said cuts are inevitable given the $1.5 trillion in spending reductions over 10 years that Republicans passed in their 2026 budget blueprint.

Of that amount, $880 billion is expected to come from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees Medicaid.

According to data from the Congressional Budget Office, the program accounts for 93 percent of that committee’s spending, making cuts seem likely if Republicans are to achieve their goal.

“We’re not going to touch it,“ Trump repeated in response to a reporter’s question on Feb. 26. ”Now, we are going to look for fraud.”

Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he would oppose Oz’s nomination in part because the nominee had failed to give a direct answer regarding Medicaid spending during his March 14 confirmation hearing.

“When I asked him a yes or no question about whether he would protect Medicaid, he dodged, he weaved, he simply wouldn’t answer,” Wyden said prior to the vote.

Oz had declined to say he would oppose reductions in Medicaid spending. His responses pointed instead to ways of improving Americans’ health, thereby reducing health care spending.

“We have a generational opportunity to fix our health care system and help people stay healthy for longer,” Oz said in his opening remarks on March 14.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) opposed Oz’s nomination.

“Dr. Oz refused to commit to following the law in the event that President Trump directs him to do something illegal. That failure to commit is disqualifying,” Hassan said on March 25.

Republicans supporting Oz’s nomination focused on promised improvements to the Medicaid system.

“There is no doubt that Dr. Oz will work tirelessly to deliver much-needed change at [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services],” Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said before the March 25 vote.

“I will be voting in favor of his nomination, and I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same.”

During the March 14 confirmation hearing, Republicans raised questions about wasteful spending, rules governing companies that set prices and manage insurance claims for prescription drugs, and lengthy delays in obtaining pre-authorization for needed medical procedures.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said Republicans intend to improve Medicaid so it will continue to be available for those who rely on it.

“We’re here to save Medicaid,” Marshall said on March 25. “We want to strengthen Medicaid for the most vulnerable.”

“When you’re spending a trillion dollars on Medicaid when it went up 50 percent in five years, I think there are opportunities to address the fraud, the waste, eligibility issues,” Marshall said.

As the full Senate prepares to vote on Oz’s nomination, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has questioned some of the nominee’s views but stopped short of saying he would oppose the nomination.

Hawley released a statement on the social media platform X saying that previous comments by Oz appeared to support gender transition treatments for minors and to criticize some state statutes restricting abortion. “I hope he’s changed his views to match President Trump!” Hawley wrote on March 19.

Hawley’s office released a dozen written questions that it said the senator had provided to Oz on March 18.

After graduating from Harvard University, Oz went on to earn a doctorate in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a master’s in business administration from the Wharton School.

No date has been announced for a confirmation vote in the Senate.