Dr. Oz Pushes Medicare Privatization For All
The New Jersey TV doctor wants to privatize Medicare — and tax workers to boost the profits of insurance giants whose stock he owns.
by Andrew Perez
[Ed.: NYPAN is a strong supporter of Medicare4All, especially the New York Health Act]
New Jersey TV doctor Mehmet Oz has decided to stake his Pennsylvania Senate campaign on vilifying legislation that would help Americans afford to visit a doctor when they get sick. At the same time, Oz is pitching a health care initiative that could force millions of seniors off traditional Medicare and into private health insurance plans cited by government regulators for wrongly denying medical claims.
Those plans were hawked by Oz on his television show — and are now generating big profits for insurers in which Oz holds large financial stakes.
In a new video released Monday, Oz attacked his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, for supporting “free health care for everyone” and claims that Fetterman wants to “spend more tax dollars.”
The ad appears to be a reference to Fetterman’s longtime support for single-payer health care, or a system in which the government would insure everyone, eliminating the need for private health insurance.
By contrast, Oz bills his own health care plan as “Medicare Advantage for All.” Such a program could move seniors and most Americans into private insurance plans that have been raising premiums and denying roughly one in ten medical claims, according to a recent government report finding that the plans frequently refuse to cover services required by Medicare.
To pay for his privatization plan, Oz has proposed a 20 percent payroll tax, which would ultimately transfer money from workers to the Republican Party’s private insurance donors that have been reporting record profits while jacking up premiums.
In other words, Oz himself wants to increase taxes on lower- and middle-class Americans to fund his own version of a corporate-run, universal health care system — one that could come with high patient costs, continued barriers to care, and a windfall for the health insurance industry.
Oz’s campaign did not respond to The Lever’s request for comment.
“As a doctor, Oz has seen the inside of the massive health-care industrial complex and knows how they work with lobbyists and powerful special interests to protect it,” notes Oz’s campaign website, which explains that “he’ll expand access to private sector plans expanded by President Trump and beloved by seniors for their low costs and high quality that could be available to all Americans who want them.”
Oz’s plan could boost companies in which he invests: Financial disclosures show Oz and his wife own up to $550,000 worth of stock in UnitedHealth Group and up to $50,000 in CVS Health, which owns Aetna. Both UnitedHealth and Aetna have reported big revenues from Medicare Advantage plans, the privatized Medicare plans operated by corporate health insurers. In all, Oz and his wife have at least $8.5 million in personal investments in the health care sector.
Oz has pushed Medicare Advantage plans on his TV show, the Dr. Oz Show, including in a segment sponsored by MedicareAdvantage.com, an insurance agency. Viewers were encouraged to call a hotline so they could sign up for Medicare Advantage plans right away.
“An Affordable 20 Percent Payroll Tax”
While his campaign website does not offer specifics about his health care plan, Oz co-authored a Forbes column in 2020 entitled, “Medicare Advantage For All Can Save Our Health-Care System.” He wrote the column with George Halvorson, the former CEO of the health insurer and medical provider Kaiser Permanente.