WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former television talk show host and heart surgeon, was named head of the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of elderly, needy and disabled Americans. Trump also named Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick to head the Commerce Department as he fills his Cabinet.
“Dr. “Oz will be a leader in incentivizing disease prevention so that we get the best outcomes in the world for every dollar we spend on health care across our great country,” Trump said in a statement. “It will also reduce waste and fraud in our nation’s most expensive government agency, which accounts for a third of our nation’s health care spending and a quarter of our entire federal budget.”
Oz, who launched a failed bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate in 2022, has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and in recent days voiced his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be the nation’s top health authority Department of Health, Express and Human Services.
As administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz reported to Kennedy.
“Americans need better research on healthy lifestyles from unbiased scientists, and @robertfkennedyjr can help as HHS secretary,” Oz said in an Instagram post last week, sharing a photo of him with Kennedy.
If confirmed by the Senate, Oz would be responsible for the programs — Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act — that more than half the country relies on for health insurance.
Medicaid provides nearly free health insurance to millions of the poorest children and adults in the United States, while Medicare provides access to health insurance for older Americans and the disabled. The Affordable Care Act is the Obama-era program that provides health insurance plans to millions of Americans who are ineligible for government-sponsored health insurance but do not receive insurance through their employer.
Trump has said he wants to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, but said he only has “concepts of a plan” for how that overhaul would work. During his first term, he tried unsuccessfully to abolish the program entirely. Last month, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson promised that health care reform would be a key part of Trump’s second-term agenda.
Other Republicans have vowed to reduce Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act after years of record enrollment during the Biden administration.
While running for Senate, Oz promised to expand Medicare Advantage, the privately run version of Medicare that is increasingly popular but also a source of widespread fraud.
TV personality Oprah Winfrey helped Oz gain a following and wealth. After years of appearing on her show as a health expert, Oz landed his own talk show that aired for 13 seasons. Oz has been accused of selling dubious medical treatments and products on his defunct TV show. And at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he pressured government officials to make hydroxychloroquine widely available, even as questions about its safety and effectiveness remained unresolved.
He estimated his net worth at between $100 million and $315 million, according to a federal financial disclosure he filed in 2022.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the chamber’s interim president, said in a statement Tuesday that Oz, who has described himself as “strongly pro-life,” was not qualified for the position.
“Dr. “Oz has no qualifications, pushes alarmist pseudoscience, and has extreme anti-abortion views,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “CMS is an important agency and we need serious leaders to protect Americans’ health care and reduce costs — not TV hosts whose primary qualification is their loyalty to Trump.”
Lutnick, meanwhile, will play a key role as commerce secretary in implementing Trump’s plan to raise and enforce tariffs, Trump said. Lutnick is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social. In the post, Trump said that Lutnick “will lead our customs and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.”
Lutnick is co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration. Both are tasked with proposing candidates for key positions in the next government.
The nomination would put Lutnick at the helm of a sprawling Cabinet agency that deals with funding up-to-date computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. In this position, connections with CEOs and the broader business community are also critical.
A supporter of imposing sweeping tariffs, Lutnick told CNBC in September: “Tariffs are an amazing tool for the president – we have to protect American workers.” Trump proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China during the campaign – and a tariff of up to 20% off everything else the United States imports.
Mainstream economists are generally skeptical of tariffs, viewing them as a mostly ineffective way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity.
Lutnick had been considered for the post of Treasury secretary, a role that has been at the center of high-profile controversy in Trump world. At the same time, the Treasury position is being closely watched in financial circles, where a disruptive candidate could have immediate negative consequences for the stock market, which Trump is closely watching.
The news also comes after billionaire Elon Musk and others in Trump’s circle called on Trump to give up the current top candidate for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, in favor of Lutnick. Musk said in his post: “Bessent is a decision as usual while @howardlutnick will actually make change happen.”
Lutnick joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 1983 and rose to president and CEO in 1991. He is also chairman of financial technology company BGC Group, Inc. and commercial real estate services company Newmark Group, Inc.
Lutnick has donated to both Democrats and Republicans in the past and once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality show “The Apprentice.” He has become part of the president-elect’s inner circle, sharing the stage with Trump at events in the final days of his campaign, including a rally at Madison Square Garden.
In the final days of the campaign, he came under fire for an interview with CNN in which he repeated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s debunked criticism of vaccines.
— Associated Press writer Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed.
