Trump taps Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

• President-elect Trump has tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz, tv celebrity and surgeon, to run the agency.
• Trump said Oz will “cut waste and fraud” in the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid.
• Oz ran for Senate in 2022 and does not have experience leading a large government bureaucracy.

President-elect Donald Trump has named Mehmet Oz, a television personality and surgeon, to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

“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,” Trump said in a statement announcing the pick on Tuesday.

Trump said that in his role, Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom the president-elect has chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Oz unsuccessfully ran for a Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2022 but has no experience leading a large government bureaucracy. The CMS oversees Medicare and Medicaid, among other services.