Non-profit health freedom organization, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) wants the incoming Trump administration to ditch the nominations of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, MD, for surgeon general and Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, for administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
CCHF says two better replacements would be Dr. Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD., state Surgeon General of Florida, and Scott Atlas, MD, former Special Advisor to the President on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
CCHF’s letter to President-elect Trump takes aim at Dr. Nesheiwat’s support for censorship during the Covid crisis, and Dr. Oz’s support for a universal healthcare system of “Medicare Advantage for All,” including a 20% payroll tax to fund it. In October, CCHF published a “Medicare How-To Guide” that advises against enrollment in Medicare Advantage, calling it one of “10 Medicare Traps.”
Twila Brase, RN, PHN, Co-founder and President of CCHF, who was a selected member of the Trump administration’s 2019 HHS Quality Summit, underscored the importance of CCHF’s request: “To make America great again, Mr. Trump must insist that his nominees plan to make health care great again.
Dr. Janette Nasheiwat’s support for censorship during Covid demonstrates a shocking disregard for freedom and free speech. Thus, Dr. Nasheiwat is not a suitable nominee for Surgeon General. Given Dr. Joseph Ladapo’s unshakeable resolve during Covid to stand for science and against censorship, Trump should withdraw Dr. Nesheiwat from consideration and instead nominate Dr. Ladapo for Surgeon General.
“For the administrator of CMS, Trump should turn to the tried-and-true Dr. Scott Atlas, whom Trump called on to help him restore truth and freedom to the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Dr. Oz’s support for a national health care system run by corporations already shown to ration care and rip-off taxpayers, shows how little he cares for patient and doctor freedom, free markets, or access to real private health insurance. Therefore, Trump should withdraw Dr. Oz’s nomination and nominate Dr. Atlas.”
In 2019, CCHF secured an Executive Order to let Americans opt out of Medicare and keep their Social Security benefits. “Medicare Advantage for All would not only lock Americans into Medicare, it would lock them into health plans that ration care,” says Brase. To provide President-elect Trump with sufficient context for its request, the CCHF letter shares details from various federal HHS-OIG reports related to rationing of care, improper payments, and fraudulent reporting by Medicare Advantage plans. CCHF concludes with this statement, “Medicare Advantage is a rip-off to taxpayers and a danger to patients in need of care.”
