Dr. Oz Tells Americans Who Are Concerned About Medicaid Cuts to Eat Less Cake [View all]

Millions of Americans will lose health care coverage due to the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

By Chris Walker , Truthout
Published July 14, 2025

Mehmet Oz, the daytime television personality-turned-administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services within the Trump administration, dismissed Americans’ concerns about huge cuts to Medicaid during an interview on Fox Business on Monday. Oz’s primary advice to viewers was to eat healthier foods and exercise more — tips that likely offer little comfort to millions of Medicaid recipients who rely on the program for vital health care coverage.

Oz acknowledged during the interview that the programs he oversees are for Americans to utilize “if you’re having problems financially or you’re having an issue because you’re older and need health care.” But he dismissed concerns about the cuts to those programs within President Donald Trump’s recently enacted “Big Beautiful Bill,” claiming that the best thing people can do to address those worries is to start monitoring their own health better.

“Be vital. Do the most that you can do to really live up to the potential, the God given potential, to live a full and healthy life,” Oz said. “You know, don’t eat carrot cake. Eat real food.” Oz brought Fox Business host Stuart Varney a carrot cake as a gift. Although Republican lawmakers have claimed that funding reductions to Medicaid were aimed at trimming wasteful spending, a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report from May found that the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to the program would undoubtedly result in millions of Americans losing health care coverage. Recent polling on the cuts also finds that a plurality of Americans, 42 percent, want spending for Medicaid to be increased, while only 17 percent approve of cuts to the program.

Despite Oz’s statements on Fox Business, Medicaid provides coverage for myriad ailments that can’t be prevented with better health or diet. Notably, 40 percent of all births in the U.S. — including 50 percent of births in rural communities — are covered by Medicaid. Overall, the program provides health coverage to one in five Americans, including two in five children. An analysis published at The Commonwealth Fund shows that the spending cuts will likely result in a significant reduction in coverage for children across the country.

https://truthout.org/articles/dr-oz-tells-americans-who-are-concerned-with-medicaid-cuts-to-eat-less-cake/