Celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz was sworn in Friday as the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
President Trump called him “one of the nation’s most talented and beloved medical professionals.”
“As CMS administrator, Dr. Oz will work tirelessly to strengthen and protect Medicare for our nation’s seniors and Medicaid for the needy,” the president said. “Just as I promised, there will be no cuts, we’re not gonna have any cuts; we’re gonna have only help.”
He added that Dr. Oz will “work to improve the quality of care for decades to come and he’ll ensure criminals, fraudsters and illegal aliens are not permitted to rob America’s seniors.”
Mr. Trump said Dr. Oz will work with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to address “chronic illness and make America healthy again.”
Mr. Kennedy stood next to Mr. Trump and performed the swearing-in.
Dr. Oz thanked the president for “courageously leading the MAHA movement.”
He also thanked Mr. Kennedy, saying he’s “like a brother” to him and his wife, Lisa Oz.
“Every great society, every one, has an opportunity to take care of its most vulnerable and treasures that opportunity and we’re great people, so we will do the same,” Dr. Oz said.
“We want to provide America with access to great care. We want to save the public health insurance programs of this country. That’s what President Trump asked me to do,” he added.
He spoke about the problems Medicaid faces and the increase of health care expenditures. He also said medical errors are the “number three cause of death” in America and that life expectancy has gone down.
“America is too great for small dreams,” Dr. Oz said. “So I’ve got some big ideas.”
He outlined plans to reform the country’s health care system and implement MAHA. He said he’s going to reduce chronic disease, modernize Medicare and Medicaid and root out fraud, waste and abuse.
“The president and Secretary Kennedy have been pushing the MAHA agenda because it makes it easier for people to do the right thing, especially the mothers in this great land,” he said.
The head of CMS oversees Medicare and Medicaid and a budget of nearly $1.5 million.
Dr. Oz, 64, was confirmed by the Senate this month with a 53-45 vote along party lines.
He hosted “The Dr. Oz Show” from 2009 to 2022 before leaving to run as a Republican for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania. He lost to Democrat John Fetterman.
