Mehmet Oz, the doctor and TV personality known as Dr. Oz, has started meeting with senators to garner support for his nomination to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Oz was on Capitol Hill Tuesday and told POLITICO he met with key moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
“I had great meetings with a lot of folks,” he said.
His visit coincided with the Senate Finance Committee’s narrow vote to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to serve as Health and Human Services secretary.
The Finance Committee will also decide whether Oz will lead CMS — a sprawling agency that oversees Medicaid and Medicare as well as the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges.
President Donald Trump named Oz to lead CMS in November.
Zoom out: Besides Kennedy, Oz is one of several nominees to run health care agencies awaiting Senate action, including Jay Bhattacharya to head the NIH and Marty Makary to run the FDA.
Oz was previously a thoracic surgeon who later gained wide popularity as the host of his own daytime talk show. He faced criticism for advertising ineffective dietary solutions on his show.
He made an unsuccessful Senate bid from Pennsylvania in 2022, losing to Democrat John Fetterman, and does not have a lot of experience within the federal bureaucracy. But he is a big supporter of Medicare Advantage, the privately run insurance option within Medicare that has grown in popularity in recent years.
Oz earned plaudits from Collins when his nomination was announced.
“It may well be helpful to have someone who has been a health care provider running that agency because they would have a whole different perspective,” she said.
