Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, disparaged “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients, alleging they spend hours each day watching television or engaging in other “leisure-time” activities instead of pursuing what he called their God-given desire to change the world. He asked why anyone would question that the government would not want to get people to be wealthy.
The vast majority of “able-bodied” people who use Medicaid, a government safety net medical insurance program that does not provide income to recipients, are already working at least one job. In the majority of families that use Medicaid, at least one adult is working a full-time job. The majority of Medicaid users are children, people living with disabilities, or the elderly, who are unable to work.
“You want people to actually get out of their homes and go do things,” Oz told CNBC on Thursday (video below). “An able-bodied person on Medicaid today watches about 6.1 hours of television, or just hangs out — leisure time.”
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“That’s a lot of time,” Oz insisted, claiming his data is sound.
“No one’s gonna be happy sitting at home 6.1 hours a day doing nothing,” he insisted.
“Your desire to go out and do something, to change the world, is given to you by God, the moment you’re born,” Oz proclaimed. “We want people to go out there and live their fullest lives, so asking people to go out and either volunteer at a position, get educated, get engaged with your community, or go get a job, and we’re gonna help you do that.”
Complaining about critics, some of whom say the new work requirements are counter-productive or designed to kick people out of Medicaid, Oz retorted, “I don’t understand how you could possibly say, that’s a bad thing for America, for us, not to want to get people to be wealthy, to go out there and change their own lives for the better.”
Last month, Dr. Oz declared that the Trump administration will no longer “tolerate” what he called a culture that makes it “easy to be sick in America.” Framing childhood illness as a failure of parenting and physical activity rather than medical need, Oz linked obesity to national security and warned that industries would be forced to cooperate—or face government retaliation.
Critics blasted Dr. Oz’s remarks.
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“So the ‘earnest effort to save Medicaid’ is shaming low-income Americans for watching TV, coming from the guy who made his millions off of people watching his shows,” noted Wall Street investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze.
“This is pure class prejudice,” Odinikaeze charged. “The reality he ignores is that many Medicaid recipients are working poor, disabled, or caretakers, not lounging all day. Access to care keeps people healthy enough to work, care for family, and live with dignity. And cutting Medicaid isn’t about ‘saving’ it; it’s about gutting it so tax breaks for the wealthy can keep flowing.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
Mehmet Oz: "It is reprehensible to criticize the president on this I think very earnest effort to save Medicaid ... an able-bodied person on Medicaid today watches about 6.1 hours of television or just hangs out -- leisure time. That's a lot of time." pic.twitter.com/95RfnFEq0Y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 14, 2025
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