"On Tuesday, top Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Dick Durbin (Illinois) and Ben Cardin (Maryland), sent Mehmet Oz a letter asking whether he was qualified for the job Trump has said he’ll nominate him for — running two of the federal government’s largest health-care programs as director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
They pointed to Oz’s previously disclosed stock holdings, writing, “Your advocacy for eliminating the Traditional Medicare program and replacing it with Medicare Advantage also raises questions about your own financial conflicts of interest.”
Financial disclosures from Oz’s 2022 Senate run showed he owned UnitedHealth Group stock worth between $280,000 and $600,000. Oz had campaigned to expand the privatization of Medicare — a move that would likely benefit the insurer UnitedHealthcare, part of UnitedHealth Group.
For an article last week, critics told Desmond Butler, Caitlin Gilbert and myself that Oz’s pending nomination opened up an array of potential conflicts of interest. In his years headlining “The Dr. Oz Show,” Oz had mixed entertainment and medicine with product placement and corporate branding — sometimes without clear boundaries or sound science, the critics said."
Lauren Weber and McKenzie Beard report for the Washington Post December 11, 2024.
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