Donald Trump appoints TV celebrity ‘Dr Oz’ to key US health post

Mehmet Oz, a former surgeon and TV celebrity known as “Dr Oz,” has been chosen to lead the United States’ massive public health insurance programme. Photo / Variety via Getty Images

Donald Trump announced he was appointing Mehmet Oz, a former surgeon and TV celebrity known as “Dr Oz,” to lead the United States’ massive public health insurance programme.

The 64-year-old heart surgeon was championed on daytime television by Oprah Winfrey before he entered politics with an unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat in 2022.

Oz is the latest of Trump’s eye-catching nominations to key positions, including Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be Defence Secretary, vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy jnr as Health Secretary and billionaire Elon Musk to head a government cost-cutting unit.

“America is facing a healthcare crisis and there may be no physician more qualified and capable than Dr Oz to make America healthy again,” the President-elect posted on his Truth Social platform.

The appointment puts a man whose health recommendations – especially on Covid and weight loss – have often been ridiculed by the medical community at the helm of the United States’ Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

As CMS administrator, Oz will be in charge of a federal agency that provides health coverage to more than 160 million Americans – almost half the country’s population.

It employs about 6700 people, had outlays of $1.48 trillion last year and is one of the largest purchasers of healthcare services in the world.

A son of Turkish immigrants, Oz has never held public office before but has been a steadfast ally of Trump, who backed him in his unsuccessful Senate run in Pennsylvania.