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WASHINGTON — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen television personality and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a wide-reaching agency with annual spending of $2.6 trillion.
Trump endorsed Oz in his unsuccessful run in Pennsylvania for the U.S. Senate in 2022. If confirmed Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Oz said in a post on social media website X he was looking forward "to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under" Kennedy's leadership.
Trump said the pair would take on "the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake" as well as cutting what he called waste and fraud.
"Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country's budget," Trump said in a statement.
Dr. Oz served as an unofficial adviser to Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic but has been scrutinized for promoting some questionable medical treatments, including hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 and a combination of a pregnancy hormone and a 500-calorie diet to spur weight loss.
