Wicked

To the editor:

Donald Trump’s announcement nominating Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Administrator proclaimed that Oz will “cut waste and fraud within our Country's most expensive Government Agency.”

A noble sentiment, especially since the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general issued a report in October citing Medicare Advantage and concluding that “taxpayers fund billions of dollars in overpayments to MA companies each year based on unsupported diagnoses for MA enrollees.”

Unfortunately, Oz has been a vocal proponent for Medicare Advantage. Segments of his television show promoted Medicare Advantage and were sponsored by its industry.

He co-authored a Forbes article touting “Medicare Advantage for All,” which advocated “buying health-care coverage for every American who is not on Medicaid.” How to pay for it? No problem! This brainiac suggests that “we could fund this universal coverage entirely … by using an affordable 20% payroll tax.”

This is even more extreme than Project 2025, which would make MA the default enrollment option in Medicare. (Mayor Eric Adams has tried that for city retirees, but so far the courts have thankfully nixed that.) 

Trump praised Oz as a “World-Class Communicator.” But, as Scarecrow said to Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” “Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?”

Harry Weiner