Overview

Background

Oz was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised by Turkish immigrant parents. He graduated from Harvard University and went on to earn both an M.D. and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and the Wharton School of Business. His first career was as a cardiothoracic surgeon at Columbia University, where colleagues remembered him as a dedicated and tireless clinician. He maintained a professor of surgery role at Columbia from 2001 until he retired as professor emeritus in 2018.

In the early 2000s, he began writing health books and appearing on television, eventually launching "The Dr. Oz Show," which ran for years. He got into some hot water for products he promoted on the show, especially weight loss products, and in 2015, ten doctors called for his dismissal from Columbia University — though he was not dismissed, and his affiliation with the university continued for nearly a decade. He earned respect as a surgeon — winning awards and securing patents for innovations — but has also been long criticized for promoting questionable miracle diet pills and other medical advice that other doctors have blasted as inaccurate and unscientific.

Oz and Trump have a long history, dating back to the mid-2000s, when Oz first met the businessman and asked him to use his golf course for a charity event. Trump later appeared on "The Dr. Oz Show" to discuss his health, and Trump in turn appointed Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition during his first term. In 2022, Oz won a Trump endorsement that propelled him through an expensive and bruising Republican primary decided by fewer than 1,000 votes, running as a self-described "conservative outsider" banking on his name recognition and personal wealth. He ran against Democrat John Fetterman in the November general election but was ultimately defeated in a close race.

Public Role in the Second Trump Administration

Nomination and Confirmation

Trump announced on November 19, 2024, that he had selected Oz as his nominee to lead CMS. CMS is the federal agency responsible for providing health insurance to more than 160 million people. Oz was confirmed by the full Senate in a 53-to-45 vote that fell along party lines. He was sworn in as CMS administrator in April 2025, and during a ceremony at the Oval Office said he wanted to "save" the nation's public health programs, focusing on reducing chronic disease, "modernizing" Medicare and Medicaid, and targeting fraud, waste, and abuse in government insurance offerings.

He took the reins of CMS at a turbulent moment: HHS, which oversees CMS, had just announced it would cut 10,000 full-time employees in a major restructuring, with 300 CMS employees among those losing their jobs. As administrator of such a massive agency, Oz wields considerable influence over American healthcare policy — from the reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals to the regulation of healthcare services — though some questioned his qualifications for managing such a substantial bureaucracy, while others saw his media experience and medical background as assets.

Medicaid and the One Big Beautiful Bill

Oz moved quickly to advance President Trump's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda following his confirmation. The biggest legislative vehicle for that agenda was the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. President Trump signed the measure into law, a sweeping package of reforms targeting Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA marketplace. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the package will cut Medicaid funding by more than $900 billion over the next decade, arousing fears that millions could lose coverage while others see their access to health care significantly impacted.

CMS under Oz moved to close a Medicaid funding "loophole," probed hospitals over gender care for minors, and clamped down on states using federal Medicaid funds to treat undocumented migrants. CMS under Oz implemented policies estimated to cut more than $50 billion in federal spending on Medicaid and Medicare, according to an analysis by Chris Pope, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning think tank. Reductions included possibly $11 billion through tightened oversight of ACA plan enrollment, up to $25 billion from closing a loophole states used to garner federal matching funds, $3 billion by barring payments for social determinants of health, and $4 billion annualized from withholding Medicare coverage for weight-loss drugs.

Oz defended these changes publicly and vigorously. On the One Big Beautiful Bill's coverage restrictions and funding cuts, Oz invoked Republicans' refrain of "fraud, waste and abuse," arguing that the ultimate goal is to "save Medicaid" and preserve physicians' role in care. Critics pushed back on that framing. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of federal survey data found that nearly eight in ten adults subject to the new work requirements were either already working the required hours, attending school, or not working for reasons — illness, disability, or caregiving — that should qualify them for an exemption.

Other Policy Directions

In June 2025, CMS withdrew a 2022 Biden-era guidance that had reinforced hospitals' obligations to provide emergency abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a move that effectively removed federal protections for clinicians who offer such care in states where abortion is restricted or banned. CMS also moved to add prior authorization for some traditional fee-for-service Medicare services as part of a newly launched Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction model. Oz has spoken publicly about CMS as an "innovation engine," emphasizing healthier lifestyle choices, better nutrition, and modern tools such as telehealth and virtual care as complements to his broader wellness agenda.

Observers have noted that Oz's approach to leading CMS represents a marked departure from that of Seema Verma, the administrator under the first Trump term. According to the Manhattan Institute's Pope, "He's been bolder than Seema Verma was." Administration allies credit the CMS team with being better prepared than in 2017, having developed a range of reform initiatives before taking office.

Recent Developments

At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January 2026, Oz and his leadership team shared future plans before an audience of health system and payer executives following a year of rapid policy changes. The Rural Health Transformation Program, allocating $10 billion annually between fiscal years 2026 and 2030, with funding awards announced at the end of 2025, has been one of the administration's talking points as providers face permanent cuts to federal Medicaid reimbursement.

The AMA has been in active correspondence with CMS on implementation of the new law, including a December 2025 letter to Oz offering recommendations on the new requirement for states to redetermine Medicaid eligibility more frequently — on a six-month basis rather than annually — and a March 2026 letter regarding forthcoming guidance on community engagement, or work, requirements. Those requirements have emerged as one of the most consequential and contested elements of Oz's implementation work.

Outlook

Oz remains a polarizing figure, simultaneously one of the most publicly active administrators in CMS history and one of the most contested. His defenders point to a coherent, pre-planned agenda executed with unusual speed. His critics — from Democratic lawmakers to hospital associations to physician groups — argue that the scale of Medicaid retrenchment underway will cause concrete harm to vulnerable populations, regardless of the rhetorical framing around fraud and efficiency.

Fears that millions could lose coverage have persisted, even as the administration has emphasized its commitment to protecting Medicaid for the most vulnerable and maintained that sufficient funding can be secured through work requirements and by addressing fraud, waste, and abuse. The gap between those two assessments — one grounded in coverage projections, the other in administrative optimism — is likely to define the ongoing debate over Oz's stewardship of CMS for the remainder of the Trump second term.