'Go get a job!' Dr. Oz under fire for shaming 'able-bodied' Medicaid users [View all]

Source: Raw Story

August 14, 2025 3:00PM ET


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.”

“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.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/dr-oz-2673885452/