ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A celebrity physician turned federal health care leader is set to speak Friday in the Lehigh Valley, drawing the ire of local transgender advocacy groups.
Mehmet Oz, a former heart surgeon and TV personality who now leads the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is scheduled to speak during the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s sold out Lehigh Valley Healthcare Summit at The Aster Event Center, 621 Grange Road, Upper Macungie Township.
In response, Queer & Trans Lehigh Valley has launched an email campaign, urging chamber officials to cancel Oz’s speech.
“He's the administrator of CMS,” Facchiano said. “So in that role, we thought he was a great one to give an update on what they're doing — that’s what we want to know. As the chamber of commerce, that's what we're here to do. We are here to be the center on issues, so we don't swing radical left or right.”Frank Facchiano, Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce chief operating officer
If it goes on as scheduled, a protest is in the works, organized through the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project.
“A lot of the things that [Oz is] proposing would directly impact our community,” Robin Gow, a representative of the advocacy committee at Queer & Trans Lehigh Valley, said.
“And then, coupled with that, the chamber is generally seen as a source of accurate information, a trusted communicator in the Valley, and the prospect of inviting somebody who's promoting such harmful rhetoric and harmful policies that are directly impacting our community is a move that we don't want to be the norm.”
Frank Facchiano, the chamber’s chief operating officer, said Oz was “a good get” as the topic of the summit is about health care costs.
“He's the administrator of CMS,” Facchiano said. “So in that role, we thought he was a great one to give an update on what they're doing — that’s what we want to know.
“As the chamber of commerce, that's what we're here to do. We are here to be the center on issues, so we don't swing radical left or right.”
Asked for comment via email about the planned protest, he responded, “Thankful that this is a free country.”
A request for comment from a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has not gotten a response.
Email campaign launched
Oz, who oversees Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage, this year announced Medicaid dollars would not pay for gender reassignment surgeries or hormone treatments for minors.
He described gender-affirming care for minors as “procedures that can cause permanent, irreversible harm, including sterilization” in an April statement.
“We have a duty to ensure medical care is lawful, necessary, and truly in the best interest of patients,” he said.
"It's a really, really, really scary proposal, and this is something that Oz has been championing for a long time.”Robin Gow, a representative of the advocacy committee at Queer & Trans Lehigh Valley
“CMS will not support services that violate this standard or place vulnerable children at risk. It is a CMS responsibility to steward Medicaid dollars and ensure resources focus on protecting our most vulnerable.”
Gow said that change already has directly impacted transgender communities.
“And then also, they have a proposed ban for any Medicare, Medicaid or ACA funding for trans-affirming care for anyone of any age,” Gow said.
“So basically not being able to access gender-affirming care on any of those plans, which would radically impact trans people's access to gender-affirming care — something that has been extensively researched.
"It's a really, really, really scary proposal, and this is something that Oz has been championing for a long time.”
Others affected by gender-affirming care
Gender-affirming care isn’t just for trans people, Corinne Goodwin, executive director of Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, said.
“Gender-affirming care is for young people with precocious puberty. It's for adults who have erectile dysfunction,” Goodwin said. “These are all forms of gender affirming-therapy.
“The fact that it isn't just transgender people, but people that may need to access this therapy for other reasons can't get it — that impacts the overall health of our communities.”
Gow and the advocacy team last week launched an email campaign, posting flyers to social media encouraging residents to write directly to chamber officials, as well as event sponsors, to cancel Oz’s speech.
“Our overall goals are that they will cancel Dr Oz's keynote,” Gow said. “What we would really like to see is for them to apologize for inviting him and provide some transparency as to how he was decided as a speaker.”
If that goal is not achieved, a protest is set to begin at 8 a.m. on the sidewalk outside the event space, Goodwin said.
“If the chamber responds to the email campaign, then we're not going to go and protest, and we're not going to make a stink over it — we're going to thank them. So that's number one.
“Number two is, if they are unable to respond appropriately, then we will be out there to protest and to make some noise, and we'll get as many people as we can on a cold Friday morning.”
‘The chamber could cancel this’
As of Monday morning, Facchiano said the chamber has received about a dozen emails opposing Oz’s speech, but also several in support.
“Medicare is the largest purchaser of healthcare in the country, and so that's why he's coming … We also got emails of support, saying, ‘Good get — anxious to see him.’”Frank Facchiano, COO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce
“Medicare is the largest purchaser of healthcare in the country, and so that's why he's coming,” Facchiano said. “We also got emails of support, saying, ‘Good get — anxious to see him.’”
Gow said there was a virtual event scheduled for Monday evening to drum up support and write more emails, and so far more than two dozen have been sent to both the chamber and event sponsors.
“We are an organization that doesn't really want to police how people respond to this information,” Gow said.
“We're really just trying to empower people to know that their voices matter and that we have to hold our organizations locally accountable, and that we shouldn't just accept things like this.
“And so, we're not counting when people reach out to us and tell us that they've written — we definitely take note of it, but our overall goal is really just to make sure that people feel empowered and know that they have a voice in their community and that we don't have to accept stuff like this.”
In addition to anti-trans policies, Oz has also described himself as “100 percent pro-life” and he looks “forward to supporting” anti-abortion policy.
Similar to his stance on gender-affirming care, he’s advocated for the denial of coverage for reproductive healthcare for people on federally funded health programs.
Further, he’s supported moves from President Donald Trump and his administration to reduce access to HIV care and research funding, as well as currently overseeing the largest increase in premiums for Medicare and ACA health plans in history.
“I think that the issues that Dr. Oz touches impact a really wide range of folks in the Valley,” Gow said.
“And so, while our focus is always going to be queer and trans people, we also invite people to talk about any of the issues that make them feel uncomfortable about him being positioned as an expert at this event.
"We feel like there's still a good enough [amount of] time that it's possible that the chamber could cancel this.”
Other speaker options
There are other speakers who would be better-suited to headline the event, both Gow and Goodwin said.
“We have two major health care networks in the Valley, and I think we also, as an organizing team, we're kind of confused about why this organization, the chamber, is uplifting this person who's known pretty widely to have engaged in some at least questionable medical advice,” Gow said.
“And then also, these really clear anti-trans and then also some actions that he's tried to do under the Medicare/Medicaid umbrella, trying to limit people's access to reproductive health care.
"So why choose someone when we have so many health care professionals in our local area that could have spoken to this issue in a way that was grounded in science?
“For us, it has very little to do with a specific political party, and everything to do with the kinds of information and policies that he's trying to push in his current position.”
Goodwin said Valerie A. Arkoosh, who leads the state Department of Human Services, might even be a better fit for the topic.
“The supposed topic Dr. Oz is talking about the future of healthcare in America, basically, and how Centers for Medicare and Medicaid impact that,” Goodwin said.
“I think that that topic could be discussed just as effectively, maybe even more effectively in many ways, by somebody like Secretary Arkoosh, because all those funds move through the state.
“Medicaid reimbursements come through the state. Any marketplace for ACA plans comes through the state, and so they can talk about how these issues are impacting the state on a more broad level.”
In addition to Oz, speakers scheduled for the event include Sarah Lutz, assistant executive director at Workforce Board Lehigh Valley; Eric Bartosz, founder of business consulting firm BAR 40; Brooke Griffiths, executive director of Blue Zones Allentown; and Dr. Chaminie Wheeler, a pediatrician.
It marks at least the second time in recent years Oz is scheduled to visit the Lehigh Valley. In 2022, during his unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate, he spoke in Bethlehem Township.
