Dr. Mehmet Oz has been confirmed as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Senate approved the former attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and professor of surgery at Columbia University in a 53–45 party-line vote.
Oz, best known as the celebrity host of a long-running syndicated television program featuring health-related topics, was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the agency, which administers health coverage payments for more than 160 million people and spends one in five taxpayer dollars through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
The confirmation vote came as lawmakers are considering budget cuts that may include Medicaid spending. Democrats have said cuts are inevitable, given the $1.5 trillion in spending reductions over 10 years included in the Republicans’ 2026 budget blueprint that the House passed….