**Trump to Nominate Dr. Mehmet Oz for Top Medicare and Medicaid Position**

President-elect Donald Trump has announced his intent to appoint Dr. Mehmet Oz, known for his tenure as a TV doctor and former Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Trump lauded Oz as an "eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator," highlighting his long-standing advocacy for healthy living.

Trump stated that Oz would work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known anti-vaccine activist whom Trump has designated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The duo would be tasked with addressing the so-called "illness industrial complex." Oz gained notoriety for promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 in 2020, a stance that sparked substantial criticism.

From 2009 until 2022, Oz hosted "The Dr. Oz Show," leaving the show to run for Senate, a race he lost to Democrat John Fetterman. The CMS position he has been nominated for will require Senate confirmation.

Trump previously appeared on "The Dr. Oz Show" during his 2016 presidential campaign to share his physical examination results. CMS oversees the health insurance of over 160 million Americans through programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers children in families who do not qualify for Medicaid.

This nomination comes at a pivotal time for CMS, as it embarks on negotiating drug prices for the most expensive prescription drugs under Medicare for the first time, a project launched by the Inflation Reduction Act. In August, CMS released the new prices for the first 10 drugs targeted in the negotiations. By February, the agency is expected to list the next 15 drugs for negotiation. The pharmaceutical industry's legal challenge to these ongoing negotiations leaves Trump's position on the matter unclear.