Dr. Mehmet Oz, President-elect Donald Trump’s latest shocking addition to his junk drawer of a Cabinet, has a documented history of choosing Big Pharma dollars over the health of Americans.
Trump has nominated Oz to be administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But the former daytime talk show host-turned-politician raised eyebrows in 2022 when he released his personal financial disclosure form ahead of the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania.
In the form, Oz—known for peddling controversial health products on his show—reported a relationship with Usana Health Sciences, a Utah-based supplement company with a track record of contamination lawsuits and pyramid-scheme accusations.
According to The Associated Press, the former surgeon’s health-focused TV show accepted “at least $50 million” in advertising dollars from Usana to promote the company as a “trusted partner and sponsor.”
How much Oz personally made from the agreement is unclear, but his financial report states that the doc brought in $9.3 million as a host and producer on the talk show while moonlighting as a brand ambassador and spokesperson for the company.
In 2016, certain Usana products promoted on Oz’s talk show were flagged by a California watchdog group for “exceeding allowable levels” of lead. Usana ultimately settled the case outside of court.
The health supplement company also faced multiple accusations of operating as an illegal pyramid scheme, or multi-level marketing company.
Oz continued to take in money as a brand ambassador for the company up until his unsuccessful election bid in 2022. He has not commented publicly on Usana’s lawsuits.
Before cutting ties with the company, he served as a trusted face selling Usana’s products at various events—despite the corporation’s allegedly questionable structure and fishy ingredient list.
Notably, Oz wiped certain episodes off the internet upon his run for Senate.
AP also found that he required former show staffers to sign nondisclosure agreements prohibiting them from discussing “the show’s arrangement with advertisers” and Oz’s “business or private life.”
While Trump claimed in his Tuesday press statement that the United States’ “broken” health care system “harms Americans every day,” the president-elect’s choice for CMS administrator has previously shilled for a company which, according to numerous lawsuits, has done just that.
Oz isn’t the only controversial health care sector Cabinet pick.
The former Republican Senate candidate will be joining destructive forces with anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and brain-worm victim Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was picked as Trump’s secretary of health and human services.
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