Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Bloomberg BusinessWeek with Carol Masser and tim
Speaker 2: Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey, listen, we want to switch to gear to another
Speaker 1: great story that's definitely on our radar. Nobody's appear President Trump.
Speaker 1: But it does feel like doctor Oz comes awfully closed.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Check out these similarities similarities between the two of them.
Speaker 2: They're both wealthy television stars of the early two thousands,
Speaker 2: degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. They became regulars on
Speaker 2: the Palm Beach social scene before entering Republican politics, and
Speaker 2: as a member of Trump's administration, Oz's remit has been sprawling.
Speaker 2: That's according to people familiar with the matter who were
Speaker 2: quoted and spoken to by Rachel Korzeng, Bloomberg News health
Speaker 2: policy reporter, who writes all about how doctor al Oz
Speaker 2: is thriving.
Speaker 1: I had no idea, And anyway, it's the.
Speaker 2: Perfect story because it's like, wait a second, and we
Speaker 2: don't think about this. Well, you did interview him at Milkin, right,
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 1: I did, But you know it's interesting, I didn't realize
Speaker 1: he was His purview was so like he oversaws so much.
Speaker 1: Let's get to it with Rachel. She is here. He
Speaker 1: is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Speaker 1: You right, though he's become the heir apparent to lead
Speaker 1: the Health Department if RFK Junior departs. Tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about what you found out.
Speaker 3: So I found that typically the CMS administrator really focuses
Speaker 3: on health insurance. You know, they're running Medicare and Medicaid.
Speaker 3: These are it's a lot of money, and it's really
Speaker 3: technical programs. It's really wonky. Usually people don't pay a
Speaker 3: whole lot of attention to it. But because doctor Oz
Speaker 3: is close to the president and he has forged a
Speaker 3: friendship with Secretary Kennedy, he gets brought into the room
Speaker 3: on big discussions that are happening about health policy, including
Speaker 3: on childhood vaccinations and you know, global health affairs. That
Speaker 3: just it's really unusual, but I think it's not a
Speaker 3: high conflict exercise. It's really interesting how he operates.
Speaker 2: You know, one thing that will and we should note
Speaker 2: that you don't there's no indication that our f K
Speaker 2: Junior is going to depart, And you make that point
Speaker 2: in the piece.
Speaker 3: Yes, not before the mid terms is kind of the expectation.
Speaker 2: But there is this view in Washington that it's kind
Speaker 2: of surprising that he's lasted this long, right.
Speaker 3: Certainly, But I mean, I think the President really likes
Speaker 3: Secretary Kennedy and he's really on board with a lot
Speaker 3: of his ideas.
Speaker 2: Well on the health side of things. Going back to
Speaker 2: doctor Oz, we've learned some things about what makes someone
Speaker 2: click with this president. What is it that makes doctor
Speaker 2: Oz click with this president.
Speaker 3: I think, as you said, they do have a lot
Speaker 3: in common. But I think doctor Oz is somebody who
Speaker 3: likes to explain things. You know. He has built a
Speaker 3: great team around him, and he's interested in the policy ideas.
Speaker 3: When I talk to people who had briefed him, they
Speaker 3: said he just inhaled the information and he loves to
Speaker 3: dig into the details. And I think the President understands
Speaker 3: that the Medicare constituency is honestly, really important in politics,
Speaker 3: and he trusts doctor Oz to deliver wins for him
Speaker 3: and to turn these big ideas he has into things
Speaker 3: that actually work in the government.
Speaker 1: I love this too, this exchange, because it often you
Speaker 1: see in a term, a presidential term, people leaving like
Speaker 1: kind of midway and that he committed to President Trump
Speaker 1: to serve his full term. He said, Okay, I'll give
Speaker 1: you the job, but I'm going to insist on four years.
Speaker 1: And Oz committed to that is that he's going to
Speaker 1: go the distance here, and I think that's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1: Has his responsibilities and his access kind of grown since
Speaker 1: he's come to this position.
Speaker 3: Absolutely certainly, And I think, you know, Secretary Kennedy never was,
Speaker 3: you know, a hands on manager in his prior roles either,
Speaker 3: So I think they've really worked on building a team
Speaker 3: around him to handle some more of those day to
Speaker 3: day management solutions. And I think the White House certainly
Speaker 3: values doctor Oz is somebody who can kind of translate
Speaker 3: from the White House and the goals we want and
Speaker 3: try to get a Secretary Kennedy fully on board with
Speaker 3: that and just figure out how to make it happen.
Speaker 3: And he's really served that role.
Speaker 1: Does the medical community as a whole. I'm just curious,
Speaker 1: as you guys were talking to different folks, do they
Speaker 1: also think, Okay, this is as good as kind of
Speaker 1: having an adult in the room, or how do they
Speaker 1: feel about this.
Speaker 3: I think it's widely viewed that his team or he
Speaker 3: built a serious team of Republican policymakers around him. That
Speaker 3: being said, there's still republic Republican policymakers, and they're still
Speaker 3: pursuing traditional kind of priorities in terms of scaling back
Speaker 3: Medicaid funding over the next ten years, and you know,
Speaker 3: not continuing subsidies that made Affordable Care Act insurance more
Speaker 3: affordable for people. And I think monthly costs are going
Speaker 3: to go up over time and people are going to
Speaker 3: lose their health insurance. I don't think there's any question
Speaker 3: about that. So all of that, so I think there's
Speaker 3: certainly concerns about those policies. But I think there is
Speaker 3: a general sense that nobody expected doctor Oz to be
Speaker 3: this serious and I guess this effective in his role.
Speaker 2: What's the relationship that doctor Oz has with RFK Junior.
Speaker 3: I think they're honestly friends, and I think both of
Speaker 3: them it's striking.
Speaker 2: It's interesting because one of them is a you know,
Speaker 2: trained medical doctor who understands the science and peer review
Speaker 2: and clinical trials, and the other one comes from a
Speaker 2: place where critics argue that he doesn't necessarily see science
Speaker 2: in the way that that you know, is it has
Speaker 2: been proven out in the medical establishment. No.
Speaker 3: I mean he the secretary understandples right, He understands he
Speaker 3: doesn't have a medical background. And I think he really
Speaker 3: values doctor Oz's opinion, and he is someone who goes
Speaker 3: around the room and seeks the council of his advisors
Speaker 3: and really listens. And I think just that trust has
Speaker 3: allowed doctor Oz to have this influence in the room
Speaker 3: where it's not, you know, a backstabbing thing. It's not
Speaker 3: a conflict heavy exercise. But I think he really values
Speaker 3: his opinion and they do seem to be pretty open
Speaker 3: minded to those discussions.
Speaker 1: He's also smart about undercutting right, yes, rfk JR.
Speaker 3: It's a very fine line. I think the worst thing
Speaker 3: to be in the Trump administration is a show voter.
Speaker 3: They really don't like that. They want all the credit
Speaker 3: to go back to the administration, and I think he's
Speaker 3: played that game very well.
Speaker 2: We see that a lot when these members of the
Speaker 2: administration speak, and the way that they highlight the contry
Speaker 2: video the president and talk about the leadership of.
Speaker 1: The president, not naming anybody, but yet no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: listen like you know, read the room, right, And I
Speaker 1: don't think that's also just specific to this president, I
Speaker 1: think in general.
Speaker 2: Right past administration of other countries too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would say even past administrations, right, Like
Speaker 1: you have to be careful about like kind of how
Speaker 1: you don't kind of show up your president and the team.
Speaker 1: What did you learn in doing this?
Speaker 2: Do you?
Speaker 1: Guys you talk to a lot of people, just get
Speaker 1: about thirty or forty seconds of all of it.
Speaker 3: What like?
Speaker 1: As you kind of think about this story, what really
Speaker 1: sticks with you?
Speaker 3: I think it's striking that just how how much they're
Speaker 3: genuinely friends and how much how little conflict there is
Speaker 3: in that.
Speaker 1: Relationship between RFK and doctor Oz.
Speaker 3: Yes, And I think there's a perception that you know somebody,
Speaker 3: there's so much speculation. I think the assumption would be
Speaker 3: that people try to grasp for power as much as
Speaker 3: they can, as quickly as they can, and I think
Speaker 3: we just haven't seen that dynamic play out between them.
Speaker 3: So it was odd, but it feels it's true. And
Speaker 3: so I think that is going to stick with me.
Speaker 1: And I think it's safe to say that when he
Speaker 1: was named two people were like scratching their head a
Speaker 1: little bit. But here he is right and certainly very involved,
Speaker 1: and certainly it sounds like a very trusted advisor to
Speaker 1: both RFK and to the President. Great stuff. Rachel Corsang.
Speaker 1: She is Boomberg News health policy reporter. Check out her story.
Speaker 1: It is on the Bloomberg and at bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 3: Rachel Place