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The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor, 53-45 and mostly along party lines to lead Medicare and Medicaid, which insure nearly half of all Americans.
The future of both programs is the subject of fierce debate: Republicans are contemplating significant cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans. The Trump administration and G.O.P. lawmakers have proposed sizable reductions in Medicaid spending in part to find savings to pay for President Trump’s tax-cut package.
Dr. Oz, 64, has for years been a vocal proponent of Medicare Advantage, the private insurance plans for older Americans, despite federal inquiries and lawmakers’ concerns that insurers have overbilled the government by tens of billions of dollars a year. He promoted it on his TV show and acted as a broker for one company that sells the plan.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee last month, he seemed to acknowledge problems with Medicare Advantage, and tried to reassure senators that there was a “new sheriff in town.”
Democrats on the committee grilled him at length about the potential steep cuts to Medicaid, which could result in a substantial number of people becoming ineligible for health coverage.
In recent days, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has overseen deep cuts to the Health and Human Services Department, including laying off roughly 10,000 employees on top of another 10,000 buyouts, retirements and departures early on in the new Trump administration.