Dr. Mehmet Oz, the TV personality nominated to steer the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
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The distinguished doctor’s financial disclosure for his 2022 Senate run details holdings in stocks including UnitedHealth, CVS and Johnson & Johnson – potentially creating conflicts in the best way he runs Medicare and Medicaid programs.
MOhmet oz, The distinguished doctor appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to go the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is maybe best known for his sales of dietary supplements and weight-loss medications. But he also has significant investments in traditional health care and medical health insurance stocks, raising questions on possible conflicts of interest as he prepares to take control of the federal government agency that oversees the health care of greater than 160 million Americans.
In his opinion Financial disclosure 2022 Because of his candidacy for the Pennsylvania Senate, Oz holds tens of millions of dollars in shares in health care corporations, including at the least $280,000 in insurer UnitedHealth, $50,000 in pharmacy giant CVS, $50,000 in drugmaker AbbVie, $15,000 each Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson acquired $615,000 in scientific instrumentation company Thermo Fisher.
“Dr. “Oz’s holdings would raise questions on its ability to impartially operate drug insurance programs under Medicare and Medicaid because decisions that CMS leadership may make concerning the way those programs operate and negotiate prices impact those holdings Kedric Payne, general counsel and senior director of ethics on the Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog group, said in a press release.
He pointed to Oz’s holdings in UnitedHealth, Cigna and CVS, adding: “If Dr. If Dr. Oz is confirmed to this position, he can have influence over how Medicare is run and will make decisions that make these stocks more helpful while negatively impacting the health care of tens of millions of Americans.
At the time of the financial disclosure, Oz and his family’s largest healthcare holding was between $6 million and $26 million in Sharecare, the digital health and wellness company he co-founded with WebMD founder Jeff Arnold. Sharecare agreed to the takeover from private equity firm Altaris for $518 million earlier this 12 months.
“If there are conflicting assets, the Office of Government Ethics can say something about it,” said Ken Gross, senior legal counsel for political law at Akin. He noted that this is able to be the case whether Oz goes through a Senate confirmation hearing or not. “The potential for conflict with a particular stake is greater in the executive branch and the rules are stricter in the executive branch than in the legislative branch because it is a regulator and not a legislature.”
Oz, who lost to John Fetterman within the 2022 race for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat, is the newest TV personality named to steer a significant federal agency. In announcing the nomination, Trump said that Oz, the son of Turkish immigrants and a retired heart surgeon, “has won nine Daytime Emmy Awards by presenting the ‘Dr. Oz Show, where he taught millions of Americans how to make healthier lifestyle choices.”
In the early days of the pandemic, Oz promoted the debunked hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. He also hyped weight reduction medications on his show, which led to a Grilling within the Senate in 2014. For years, he advertised dietary supplements from the Utah company Usanawhich paid at the least $50 million to look in regular segments that always blurred the road between medical advice and promoting, it said the Associated Press, based on the verified records.
Much of Oz’s wealth comes from his wife’s wealthy family. Her grandfather co-founded the tree trimming company Asplundh Tree Expert, which had 2022 sales of $5.4 billion, and the nearly 200 members of the family who still own it are collectively price at the least $3 billion Forbes has previously described intimately.
It just isn’t clear whether Oz and his family still hold the healthcare stocks listed in 2022 or whether or not they have invested in additional healthcare-related corporations previously two years, as he has not yet filed financial disclosures related to his current nomination.
Oz’s election to steer CMS is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Trump has called for candidates to be pushed through without Senate control through so-called recess appointments.
“I can tell you what the normal rules would be,” said Richard Briffault, a law professor at Columbia Law School. “We have to wait and see what will happen with this new government. This is not a government that appears to be paying particular attention to these rules in the first few weeks of the transition.”
Representatives for Oz didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Updated 11/20/24 at 7:15 p.m. so as to add comments from Ken Gross and Richard Briffault
