What to make of Trump’s other health picks (part one)
| By Dr. Ronald Hoffman
In last week’s newsletter I commented on the nomination of RFK Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. This week and next, I’ll take a look at some of the rest of Trump’s nominees to fill key health roles.
Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare and Medicaid
Mehmet Oz has been in the crosshairs for his endorsement of questionable products during his stint as host of a popular TV show. MSNBC tars him by association with RFK Jr.:
“Kennedy and Oz amplify the worst aspects of wellness culture: conspiracy theories, cheap hucksterism and anti-institutionalism.” When did “anti-institutionalism” become an insult?
What’s worse for some, he hitched his wagon to Trump during his ill-fated 2022 Senate campaign. All of a sudden, many of his ardent TV show fans jettisoned him.
He was famously ambushed at a Senate hearing investigating his promotion of “unproven cures”; for his D.C. debut, where the media-savvy TV host was expecting to pull off another bravura performance, he was pilloried by then-Senator Claire McCaskill:
“I’ve tried to do a lot of research in preparation for this trial and the scientific community is almost monolithic against you.”
McCaskill’s slip of the tongue (it was actually just a hearing) revealed a hidden agenda: Hostile legislators were putting Oz on trial as the personification of “quackery”.
Ultimately, he was dismissed from his position at Columbia, and there were even widespread calls for revocation of his medical license. There’s a high price for bucking the mainstream narrative.
I’ve known Mehmet from his days as a cardiothoracic surgeon. He’s done wonders for some of my patients and friends.
Twenty years ago, in a foreshadowing of MAHA (Make America Healthy Again), he started HealthCorps, an initiative to promote healthy lifestyles for young people.
As a chief surgical resident, he used to ride his bicycle from his home in New Jersey across the George Washington bridge at six o’clock in the morning to lead morning surgical rounds at Columbia Presbyterian. He would start his surgeries with a group meditation and play soothing music to facilitate a healing vibe. In his home, he insisted on excavating a full-size basketball court in the basement so he could unwind with his surgical residents. He’s a remarkable and highly driven individual.
Dr. Oz can properly be faulted for not exercising better control over his show content. But I can sympathize with his predicament as host of a radio talk show. When I was employed by a radio station (I’m now independent and have full purview over my content and sponsors), the pressure to generate ratings with clickbait topics like panaceas for weight loss and sexual enhancement were great; at the same time, the Sales Department was constantly bombarding me with lucrative (for them!) commercial tie-ins. In a high-pressure environment like that, it’s easy to let your standards slip.
I have a feeling that, after a chastening loss in the Pennsylvania Senate race in 2022, Dr. Oz is now committed to making up for what may have been his sole professional false start by creating a legacy of accomplishment at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). After all, there’s no question he’s a brilliant guy who’s aced several careers—academically, as a top cardiovascular surgeon, as an inventor of medical devices and procedures, and as host of a wildly popular TV show. But politics, so far, has stymied even his considerable talents. I think he wants to be vindicated in what may be his ultimate career path.
Incidentally, I got a foreshadowing of Oz’s political aspirations around 20 years ago when that seemed like a far-fetched possibility. Once, at a party celebrating his TV show, I was speaking to him and his wife. I jokingly said: “What’s next for Dr. Oz? Politics?” I still remember his expression as he turned to Mrs. Oz and they exchanged glances. They didn’t laugh. I knew then that a political career was eventually going to be the pinnacle that his huge ambition would try to conquer.
His work is certainly cut out for him at CMS. The runaway train of government-subsidized healthcare is headed inexorably toward insolvency. It doesn’t help that many new and exorbitant drugs are being greenlighted for seniors and the poor; novel GLP-1 drugs have just been proposed to be approved for coverage under Federal programs as a parting gift from the Biden administration, with tens of millions of overweight Americans becoming candidates for them (Oz has expressed support for them, while RFK Jr. remains a skeptic). Over-the-top end-of-life care consumes a disproportionate tranche of overall expenditures. Providing economical treatment to soaring numbers of seniors is sure to be a hot-button issue—Trump has promised to bolster at-home eldercare through tax credits for unpaid family caregivers. Fraud and abuse are rampant, costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. So-called preventive care at CMS is mostly just all about pricey screening tests—and not aimed at curbing unhealthy lifestyle habits. Coming up with solutions will be the ultimate challenge for a guy who’s taken on some big jobs in the past.
Dr. Janette Nesheiwat tapped to serve as Surgeon General
I must admit, the selection of Dr. Nesheiwat puzzles me a little. Some may argue that the position of U.S. Surgeon General is purely symbolic and doesn’t have any impact on policy; it’s a mere “bully pulpit”, whose occupants issue proclamations that are mostly ignored. Previous Surgeons General have been an odd lot: Jocelyn Elders was fired by President Clinton after recommending masturbation as an alternative to unsafe sex; bearded C. Everett Koop resembled one of the Smith Brothers on a box of cough drops; our current Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, was reproved by the Supreme Court for having issued a health advisory that encouraged social media platforms to take steps to censor COVID–19 “misinformation”.
Aside from platforming important health issues, the Surgeon General has oversight over the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, “a 6,500-member cadre of uniformed health professionals who are on call 24 hours a day and can be dispatched by the secretary of HHS or by the assistant secretary for health in the event of a public health emergency.” That’s potentially impactful.
Dr. Nesheiwat is a graduate of an offshore medical school on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, a fallback place you go to when you can’t get into a mainland medical school. It probably took hard work to carve a path to prestigious NYU Langone where she practices ER and Family Medicine; she also served as Assistant Medical Director of CityMD, a New York metro area doc-in-the-box.
She burnished her resume with a variety of activities including spots on Fox News during the pandemic, and relief efforts post-Katrina and in Haiti and the Ukraine as a member of Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Relief Team. She details her accomplishments in a soon to be released book. She also promotes her own supplement line, “BC Boost” on her website, DrJanette.net.
Interestingly, her husband is the lead singer for the popular post-Grunge rock band, Creed, and they have four children.
President-elect Trump lauded Nesheiwat’s “unwavering commitment to saving and treating thousands of American lives,” describing her as “a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health.”
“She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives,” the president-elect continued, noting that Nesheiwat “worked on the front lines in New York City” at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . Dr. Nesheiwat will play a pivotal role in MAKING AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”
“Her expertise and leadership have been pivotal during some of the most challenging Healthcare crises of our time,” Trump said.
Dr. Nesheiwat is clearly a mover and a shaker, but I’m concerned that she’s not an independent thinker—what’s called for as America’s potential head doctor in an Administration committed to reversing groupthink of the past. Although she’s since recanted some of her views, during the pandemic she was a staunch promoter of lockdowns and vaccines, and parroted the narrative against “misinformation”, praising Facebook for censoring “anti-vaccine rhetoric”.
A YouTube video has resurfaced: Dr. Nesheiwat calling for wearing masks outdoors to prevent Covid transmission, and urging universal masking, even for small children, during an April 2021 Fox interview.
It’s true that many experts were caught up in the uncertainty of early Covid, but other nominees were thoughtful dissenters early on. In contrast to other picks who will court resistance from the Left, Nesheweit’s selection is likely to arouse pushback from her own MAGA base.
Why not Ben Carson? I thought he would have been the better pick. But he declined the Surgeon General job, saying he wanted to help the new administration in some other capacity.
Joseph Lodapo, outspoken Surgeon General of Florida, is another potential alternative pick, but his controversial views on Covid, vaccines and fluoridation would make him a lightning rod.
Next week, I’ll be taking a closer look at several more of the new administration’s choices for our leaders in health.
As President of the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), I am optimistic about the prospects for advancing our goals—freedom of choice in healthcare, access to natural products, protection of our food supply and environment, and free speech about health options—with an administration that appears, at least for now, philosophically aligned with our goals. As a non-partisan organization, we welcome opportunities to align with natural health advocates on either side of the aisle who seek to further our agenda. Join me in supporting ANH and register for our newsletter.
