Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding Dr. Mehmet Oz provide answers regarding his past support for "Medicare privatization," or doing away with traditional Medicare and enrolling all seniors into Medicare Advantage plans.
In a letter on Tuesday, the group of seven Democrat lawmakers expressed concerns about Oz's "advocacy for the elimination of Traditional Medicare and [his] deep financial ties to private health insurers."
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Oz in late November to serve as the administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The letter from the lawmakers is indicative of the line of questioning Oz will likely face from Democrats during his Senate confirmation hearing next year.
"We have questions about your lack of qualifications for this job: Although you were a renowned heart surgeon, you have no management experience relevant to running these critical healthcare programs," they wrote. "But we are equally concerned about your previous advocacy for Medicare privatization."
They were referring to Oz's 2020 opinion piece in which he floated the idea of "covering every senior that is not on Medicaid 'through the Medicare Advantage program,'" which would effectively eliminate traditional Medicare.
The Democrats cited an analysis from the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee which projected that the for-profit insurers that run the Medicare Advantage program will overcharge the government $83 billion relative to traditional Medicare in 2024.
In the letter, the lawmakers pointed to Oz's previous criticism of traditional Medicare as "highly dysfunctional" and said his call to eliminate it raises questions about his "financial conflicts of interest."
Oz's financial disclosures from his 2022 Senate run reveal that he owns more than $550,000 of stock in UnitedHealth — the largest private insurer in Medicare Advantage and largest employer of physicians in the nation.
"The company is currently under a sprawling antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice — including for its role in aggressively upcoding Medicare Advantage enrollees to secure higher payments from CMS — and has been sued on multiple occasions for Medicare fraud," the Democrats wrote. "Under your plan, UnitedHealth's revenue from Medicare Advantage would roughly double to $274 billion annually."
"Given your financial ties to private insurers, combined with your view that the traditional Medicare program is 'highly dysfunctional' and your advocacy for eliminating it entirely, it is not clear that you are qualified for this critical job," they added.
The letter was signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.; and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.
Wyden will reportedly be the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee — which will hold Oz's confirmation hearing — next year.
Senate Republicans will need 50 votes to confirm Oz's nomination and hold a 53-47 seat advantage over Democrats in the upper chamber.