At the meeting, Oz spoke extensively about his family’s history, the origins of his name, and his educational background at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania (including his football career), before talking about CMS.
Oz told CMS employees that it was their “patriotic duty” to take care of themselves as it would help decrease the cost of health care, citing the costs of running Medicare and Medicaid throughout the country. (During his Senate confirmation hearing for CMS administrator, Oz also claimed “it is our patriotic duty to be healthy,” connecting personal exercise to the overall reduction of expenses for Medicare and Medicaid.)
Oz spoke at length during the meeting about obesity in the US and what it costs CMS, without citing any provable statistics. He said that addressing obesity was one of his top priorities. (The Biden administration had suggested that Medicare and Medicaid cover costs for weight-loss drugs, an initiative that the Trump administration has so far declined to expand. Oz has repeatedly drawn criticism for promoting “miracle” weight-loss cures on The Dr. Oz Show.)
“I’m not sure he knows what we do here,” said one CMS employee who listened to the call. “He was talking about nutrition and exercise. That’s not what Medicare does. We care for people in nursing homes. We deal with dying people.”
When asked how he would prefer to be briefed on complex policy issues, Oz told staffers, You’ll find that I am not purposely but deliberately naive about a lot of issues. Sources tell WIRED that this seemed to them like a roundabout way for Oz to say that he is focused not on personal or political motivations, but the facts. Oz also claimed that CMS needed to do a better job of addressing “fraud and waste” at the agency, two purported targets of Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
Oz also endorsed MAHA: Make America Healthy Again, an HHS priority that was originally a cornerstone of RFK Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign. In the CMS meeting, Oz stated that MAHA is all about “curiosity.” (Kennedy, who has championed MAHA, has also repeatedly and dangerously promoted anti-vaccine opinions, doctors, and activists.)
“Reinforcements are coming to the agency,” Oz said, speaking of doctors and clinicians he claims have been left behind or left out of CMS’s work; or even those who wouldn’t have previously wanted to work at CMS before.
The idea of bringing new people to CMS, where hundreds of employees were recently fired as part of a sweeping reduction in force (RIF) at HHS, was upsetting to those who were present at the meeting. “That was frankly insulting to the CMS staff,” says a source. “We have incredible people here.”
Update 4/8/24 6:20pm ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from a CMS spokesperson.
