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The celebrity doctor’s 2022 financial disclosure for his Senate run details holdings in stocks like UnitedHealth, CVS and Johnson & Johnson — potentially creating conflicts in the way he runs Medicare and Medicaid programs. M ehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor that President-Elect Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is perhaps best known for his hawking of supplements and weight loss drugs. But he also holds significant investments in traditional healthcare and health insurance stocks that raise questions about potential conflicts of interest, as he is poised to take control of the government agency that oversees healthcare for more than 160 million Americans.
According to his 2022 financial disclosure from his Pennsylvania Senate candidacy, Oz holds millions of dollars in stock at healthcare companies, including at least $280,000 in insurer UnitedHealth, $50,000 in pharmacy giant CVS, $50,000 in drug maker AbbVie, $15,000 each in Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson, and $615,000 in scientific instrument company Thermo Fisher. “Dr. Oz’s holdings would raise questions about his ability to impartially run drug coverage programs under Medicare and Medicaid, as decisions CMS leadership can make about the way these programs operate and negotiate prices can impact those holdings,” Kedric Payne, general counsel and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog group, said in a statement.
Pointing to Oz’s holdings in UnitedHealth, Cigna and CVS, he added that “if confirmed to this position, Dr. Oz will hold sway over how Medicare is administered and could make decisions that make those stocks more valuable while adversely impacting the healthcare of millions of Americans.” At the time of the financial disclosure, Oz and his family’s single biggest healthcare holding was between $6 million and $26 million in Sharecare, the digital health and wellness company that he cofounded with WebMD founder Jeff Arnold.
Sharecare agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Altaris for $518 million earlier this year. Oz, who lost to John Fetterman in the race for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat in 2022, is the latest TV personality to be named to run a major federal agency. In announcing the nomination, Trump said that Oz, who is the son of Turkish immigrants and a retired heart surgeon, had “won nine Daytime Emmy Awards hosting ‘The Dr.
Oz Show’ where he taught millions of Americans how to make healthier lifestyle choices.” In the early days of the pandemic, Oz promoted the debunked Covid-19 treatment hydroxychloroquine. He’s also hyped weight-loss drugs on his show, leading to a grilling in the Senate in 2014.
For years, he promoted supplements from Utah firm Usana , which had paid at least $50 million to be featured in regular segments that often blurred the line between medical advice and advertising, according to the Associated Press, based on records it reviewed. Much of Oz’s fortune comes from his wife’s wealthy family . Her grandfather cofounded tree pruning company Asplundh Tree Expert, which had $5.
4 billion in 2022 revenue, and the nearly 200 family members who still own it are collectively worth at least $3 billion, as Forbes has previously detailed. It is not clear whether Oz and his family still hold the healthcare stocks listed in 2022, or whether they have invested in any additional health-related businesses over the past two years, as he has not yet filed a financial disclosure related to his current nomination. The choice of Oz to lead CMS requires confirmation by the U.
S. Senate. Trump has called for pushing through appointees without Senate oversight with so-called recess appointments.
Representatives for Oz did not immediately respond to a request for comment..
