Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Mehmet Oz, holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, baffled analysts on Thursday after he uncorked a series of wild claims during an interview on Newsmax about the Trump administration's efforts to combat health care fraud.
Oz was interviewed by Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren about a multi-billion-dollar hospice scam that the Trump administration recently uncovered. But one claim he made during the more than five-minute-long segment raised multiple red flags for political analysts.
"When you sign someone up wrongly for hospice, you take their insurance away to get those benefits. People die because of that," Oz said.
Analysts and observers reacted to Oz's claim on social media.
"What the f--- are you talking about?" Zak Williams, a political consultant with Zenith Strategies, posted on Bluesky.
"That’s not how hospice works," Bradley Moss, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., posted on Bluesky.
"These are the kinds of lies that can cause mass suffering and death. Which appears to be one of the main goals of the Trump regime," Charles Johnson, a musician and artist, posted on Bluesky.
"He wants to take away their insurance and give them nothing instead," political commentator Tom Paine posted on Bluesky.
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