WA Sen. Patty Murray warns of ‘chaos’ as Trump picks Dr. Oz to run Medicare, Medicaid
President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to helm the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services isn’t sitting well with Washington’s longtime U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. In fact, she fears it could spell “chaos.”
Murray on Tuesday decried the nomination of Dr. Mehmet Oz in a post on X (Twitter). Oz is a physician-cum-talk-show star who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Trump announced the pick in a Nov. 19 post on his social media platform, Truth Social — sparking prompt pushback from detractors. Murray, who typically veers away from personal attacks, didn’t mince words.
She wrote on X that Oz has “zero qualifications, pushes alarming pseudoscience, and holds extreme anti-abortion views.”
In a statement sent Wednesday to McClatchy, the senator elaborated: “No one should doubt that Dr. Oz and the Trump administration pose a very real threat to Medicare, Medicaid, and health coverage as we know it — Trump notoriously undermined the Affordable Care Act every chance he got and drove health care costs through the roof.
“Last time, Trump slashed funds to help people sign up for coverage, promoted junk plans, gave people as little time as possible for open enrollment, approved harmful cuts to Medicaid eligibility and coverage, and sent premiums skyrocketing,” Murray continued.
Trump, of course, sees it differently. His Truth Social post vowed that Oz will be “a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country.”
The president-elect also noted some of Oz’s past credentials, such as authoring New York Times best-selling books and serving as a professor of surgery at Columbia University.
Oz is exceptionally qualified for the role, said Karoline Leavitt, transition team spokeswoman for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance. His academic success includes receiving a joint MD and MBA degree at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School.
Oz has earned numerous medical-invention patents, penned in excess of 400 original publications and, along with his wife, founded a health-focused nonprofit that helps underserved teens, Leavitt said.
“He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades. Dr. Oz has many accomplishments, and he will do great work in President Trump’s second administration to make America healthy again,” she continued via email.
McClatchy reached out to Oz for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The silver-screen doctor isn’t Trump’s only controversial cabinet pick. Other nominations eliciting critics’ outrage include professional-wrestling magnate Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education, and X owner Elon Musk as co-lead of the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Then there’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy, who suspended his independent campaign for president ahead of the 2024 general election, is proposed to head the Department of Health and Human Services. As CMS administrator, Oz would work under Kennedy, according to Newsweek.
Murray also warned of Kennedy’s nomination in a post on X, writing on Nov. 14 that the elevation of the “anti-vaxxer & fringe conspiracy theorist” could “not be more dangerous.”
Claims of ‘pseudoscience’
Murray also slammed Trump’s CMS selection in a statement posted Tuesday to her website. It referenced Oz’s endorsement of a “raft of alarming pseudoscience.”
Oz ran in Pennsylvania as a Republican for U.S. Senate, earning Trump’s support for the 2022 race. An opinion piece in the Scientific American sounded the alarm about the TV star’s political bid. The December 2021 article pointed to his backing of disputed detoxes and fad diets, as well as hydroxychloroquine to combat and prevent COVID-19.
Several years before, in 2014, then-Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, blasted Oz for promoting “miracle” weight-loss products.
Oz has also argued that abortion is an issue best left up to the states. Political observers speculated that the stance helped lead to his Senate defeat.
Dr. Oz called a ‘yes man’
Trump and Oz have a history of boosting one another’s profile.
“The Dr. Oz Show” invited Trump on as a guest in 2016 during his inaugural campaign for the White House. Two years later, Oz was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition — and in 2020 was reappointed, per CNN.
Murray told McClatchy that Oz’s selection could lead to bad outcomes for regular people.
“I am deeply concerned about putting a TV show host and Trump yes-man in charge of CMS and creating chaos for the agency that oversees the health care seniors, families, and millions of Americans rely on,” she added. “We’re watching in real time as Republicans double down on making health care less affordable and less accessible, while cutting taxes for billionaires and blowing up the deficit.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comment from the Trump-Vance transition team.
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
