By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate nominated by President Donald Trump to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, is expected to field questions on Friday on industry ties that could create conflicts of interest.
Oz, who has never held public office, is appearing at a Senate Finance Committee hearing over his confirmation as administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a wide-reaching agency with annual spending of $2.6 trillion that oversees health insurance for more than half of Americans.
Oz, 63, gained national prominence as a cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality, hosting “The Dr. Oz Show” for over a decade, where he dispensed medical advice and, at times, controversial health recommendations.
He is likely to be confirmed. Republicans control the Senate and have been largely supportive of Oz, who in 2022 ran with Trump’s endorsement as the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania and lost. Republicans have backed nearly all Trump’s nominees.
Oz would head Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people aged 65 or older or who have disabilities, oversee Medicaid, the state-based health insurance program for low-income people, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, for low-income children and pregnant women.
He would also run the main program for income-based government-subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Nia Williams)
