Mehmet Oz
Net Worth: ~ $200 Million (Investopedia)
Who is Mehmet Oz?
- Mehmet Oz is a long-time TV health personality, who originally rose to prominence as a recurring guest on Oprah’s talk show. “The Dr. Oz Show” launched in 2009, and over the course of 13 seasons became one of the country’s most watched daytime programs. TWhile he is a doctor, Oz’s show became a vessel for the promotion of bad, and sometimes harmful, health advice, with one 2014 study concluding that less than half of the claims made on the show were backed by even “some” evidence.
- Oz was endorsed by Trump when he ran for a Pennsylvania Senate seat against John Fetterman in 2022. Oz faced skepticism that he had moved to Pennsylvania only to run for the Senate seat: “Republicans are questioning whether, and for how long, he has been a resident of Pennsylvania, a famously parochial state. According to his campaign, Oz has lived in Pennsylvania since December 2020, renting a home in Bryn Athyn owned by his wife’s family. […] Oz was previously a decadeslong resident of New Jersey, where he voted in October 2020. He registered to vote in Pennsylvania soon after.” He lost the election by a 4.9% margin.
- Oz has a number of controversial political stances. He opposed the involvement of the federal government in protecting abortion rights, saying “states can decide for themselves.” On his show, he once claimed that “language centers in the female brain are bigger, which helps explain a woman’s ‘Gift of Gab.’” He once falsely claimed that “80 to 85 percent of kids who say they are transgender will naturally, if they’re not influenced, go back to their biological gender.”
- As the Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz has pushed policies that enriched insurance companies through the Medicare Advantage program.
- In February 2026, Oz’s CMS achieved the milestone of enrolling half of all eligible medicare beneficiaries (35 million people) in a private Medicare Advantage plan, a huge win for insurance companies who overcharge the government by billions. This includes a 12-month increase of 1.1 million enrollments in MA. As more Medicare recipients receive private coverage, 3 million Americans are also estimated to lose their coverage this year in protest of Oz’s proposal to charge insurance companies more.
- Oz is a long time advocate of Medicare Advantage. In his 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race, he pushed a “Medicare Advantage for All” plan. The plan was criticized for moving seniors to private plans which would raise premiums and deny more claims: “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.”
- Oz sold his investment (between $50,000 and $100,000) in UnitedHealth Group, a Medicare Advantage plan-provider, after his appointment to CMS.
What does Mehmet Oz have to gain from the Trump administration?
- As Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Oz is now in position to drastically alter America’s healthcare landscape while improving his financial standing.
- Oz’s personal wealth comes first and foremost from his personal brand. In addition to his popular daytime show, he earns royalties from eight New York Times best sellers and garners speaking appearances. His position at CMS will undoubtedly be an asset for his future aspirations as a public figure. Oz’s ethics agreement from February 2025 also confirms that he retains financial interests in Oz Media LLC as CMS Administrator.
- At the time of his appointment, Oz held compensated “advisory” roles in multiple health-related firms, including advisories at the “wellness” e-commerce brand iHerb, an AI-powered stethoscope maker called EKO Health, and Housey Pharma. Though he was forced to divest his holdings in these companies upon appointment, the connections he creates at CMS may help his post-government resume become a supercharged version of his pre-government one.
For more information, see the Revolving Door Project’s Oligarchs in Trump World tracker.