Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician who President Donald Trump has nominated to oversee the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), may have potentially underpaid on his Medicare and Social Security taxes.
That memo from the Democratic staff on the Senate Finance Committee, which was obtained by outlets like NBC News, Politico, and Reuters Thursday, outlines a review of Oz’s tax returns from 2021 to 2023. It claims that Oz paid no Medicare or Social Security taxes in 2023 and “negligible” amounts in 2022.
NBC News additionally reports that Democratic committee staff found Oz to have allegedly underpaid on his Social Security and Medicare taxes by a total of roughly $440,000.
Oz is slated to appear before the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing on his nomination on Friday.
The physician’s spokesperson, Christopher Krepich, told the Daily Beast in a statement: “The Office of Government Ethics has conducted an extensive review of Dr. Oz’s finances as part of the regular vetting process.
“OGE has transmitted to the Senate a letter indicating that any potential conflicts have been resolved and he is in compliance with the law,” he continued.
The panel’s chairman, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, additionally told NBC News that Oz “followed the law” in a statement.
“Dr. Oz followed the law and provided significant amounts of documentation to substantiate his tax return positions as part of the committee’s rigorous vetting process,” Crapo said. “I look forward to holding his hearing tomorrow.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
“Dr. Oz’s position is counter to the position of the Department of Treasury and results in him not paying into Social Security and Medicare, the very healthcare program he hopes to manage,” Democratic staff wrote in their five-page memo, according to Reuters.
Oz is widely known for his eponymous talk show which ran for 13 seasons. As CMS administrator, he would oversee an agency which provides health care coverage to more than 160 million people in the country through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges.
