AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn right now to President-elect Trump’s pick for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the well-known TV personality. CMS is the agency that oversees health coverage for 150 million people, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Last week, Trump picked the prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head HHS. Dr. Oz unsuccessfully ran for the Senate from Pennsylvania in 2022, backer of privatizing Medicare.

We are joined right now by Dr. Robert Steinbrook, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.

In these two minutes we have left, Dr. Steinbrook, talk about the significance of Oz, if he’s approved, to head CMS.

DR. ROBERT STEINBROOK: Well, thank you for having me.

It’s a strange choice. Dr. Oz is a physician, which is good, but his background really has nothing to do with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It touches half the country in terms of providing medical care. It’s a complex bureaucratic organization, which also has regulatory structures. Dr. Oz is a celebrity physician. He’s promoted various treatments and supplements of dubious value. But that’s really not what CMS is about. It’s not the FDA. And it remains to be seen how he could be effective in this position if he’s confirmed.

The one thing I’ll mention is that Dr. Oz, specific to CMS is, he’s a supporter Medicare Advantage and increasing privatization of Medicare. Medicare Advantage already covers about 54% of people under Medicare. And we think that’s the wrong way to go. We’d like to see traditional Medicare strengthened so that there will be a level playing field. Medicare Advantage often overcharges the federal government. And strengthening it, making it even more lucrative for private insurers, is not the way to go.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Robert Steinbrook, we want to thank you so much for being with us, Public Citizen Health Research Group director.

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To continue to watch our coverage of COP29 here in Baku, Azerbaijan — we’ll be here for the whole week — go to democracynow.org. Tomorrow is Women’s Day here at the U.N. summit, and we’ll be bringing you women from around the world. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.