Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s Administrator for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is facing sharp criticism after suggesting that the more than ten million people projected to lose their healthcare under the current Republican budget bill do not matter.

The legislation as written requires that many Medicaid users work and provide documentation that they have worked at least 80 hours each month, or be kicked off the critical safety net. Many Republicans have been suggesting Medicaid users are intentionally not working so they can collect federal government benefits like Medicaid. But many Medicaid users do work, and many cannot find jobs.

“Go out there, do the entry-level jobs, get into the workforce. Prove that you matter, get agency into your own life,” Dr. Oz, the former television talk show host and promoter of allegedly questionable health supplements and other products, told Fox Business.

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“It’s a much more enjoyable experience if you’re going through a life thinking that you control your destiny, and you’ll get better insurance at the same time,” he claimed.

Nearly half of employers—about 46%—do not offer health insurance at all. Most exclude part-time workers from coverage. Gig workers typically receive no health benefits through their jobs. And many seasonal workers struggle to meet the monthly hour thresholds needed to remain eligible for Medicaid.

The Hill also reported that Dr. Oz said to people not willing to go back to work, volunteer, or take care of a loved one, “we are going to ask you to do something else. Go on the exchange, or get a job and get onto regular commercial insurance. But we are not going to continue to pay for Medicaid for those audiences.”

Critics blasted Oz.

“When asked about Medicaid cuts, the literal head of the federal agency overseeing Medicaid had this to say: ‘Prove that you matter.’ Absolutely incredible,” remarked Andrea Ducas, Vice President  of health policy at the Center for American Progress.

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“Health care isn’t a prize for being productive. It’s a right. And 16 million people could lose it if this bill passes,” warned the nonprofit Protect Our Care.

“Dr. Oz, who spent his career hawking colloidal silver as a cure-all, tells Medicaid recipients to ‘prove that you matter’ if they want health care,” charged Alexandra De Luca, vice president of communications at the liberal super PAC American Bridge.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Dr. Oz says people kicked off their health care by Trump’s budget bill should ‘get into the workforce and prove that you matter’ to get health care pic.twitter.com/rOmTTdkaW9

— FactPost (@factpostnews) June 5, 2025

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U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) is receiving strong criticism for his claim that Republicans’ budget legislation does not remove millions of Medicaid users from the program, but rather “transitions” them to employer-based health care programs.

Just slightly more than half of private employers (53%) offer health care to employees, according to KFF, and largely only to those working full-time. Many employers hire part-time workers to avoid having to pay for health care coverage. And many people who work are part of the gig economy, working at jobs that offer flexible scheduling but who are not hired as employees, and are not offered health care. Some are forced to take seasonal jobs, which can dry up in the off-season.

“People are screaming and saying, “Hey, it’s kicking people off Medicaid.’ It’s not kicking people off Medicaid. It’s transitioning from Medicaid to employer-provided healthcare,” Senator Lankford, an ordained Baptist minister, told CNBC on Thursday (video below).

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“So, yes, we’ve got 10 million people that are not going to be on Medicaid, but they then are going to be on an employer provided healthcare. We think that’s a better option for the taxpayer, and quite frankly, for their families, as well,” he added.

(Other reports have put the number of people losing health care or other benefits, such as SNAP, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act coverage, at at least 13.7 million.)

Journalist Jane Coaston called Lankford’s remarks “Huge news for companies like DoorDash that don’t provide health insurance to employees.”

Discussing the legislation’s work requirement, the Congressional Budget Office, (as HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney noted,) made clear: “Few of those disenrolled from Medicaid because of the policy would have access to and enroll in employment-based coverage and none would be eligible for the premium tax credit.”

Critics blasted the Oklahoma Republican.

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“Someone tell @SenatorLankford how many jobs don’t offer health insurance. Tell him about the cost-sharing that people making $20/hr can’t afford,” observed Dr. Rob Davidson MD, MPH, head of the Committee to Protect Health Care. “They’re so detached from the people they represent, it’s no wonder they pass laws to benefit the billionaires who get them elected.”

The Washington Post’s Benjy Sarlin asked, “So you’re going to require employers provide health coverage, right?”

Podcaster and political commentator Fred Wellman, an Army combat veteran, asked, “What the f— is he talking about? We have a gig economy. Millions of employers don’t offer healthcare. He. Is. Lying.”

“Nearly 50% of employers don’t offer healthcare benefits,” noted Oklahoma Democratic state Representative Forrest Bennett. “This messaging is meant to lull folks into a false sense of security so they don’t *rightfully* scream that Trump and his Congressional allies are indeed kicking 10+ million people off of Medicaid. Don’t buy the b——-.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Lankford: “People are screaming and saying, ‘It’s kicking people off Medicaid.’ It’s not kicking people off Medicaid. It’s transitioning from Medicaid to employer-provided healthcare. So yes, we’ve got 10 million people that are not gonna be on Medicaid, but they then are gonna… pic.twitter.com/PkQHalchgK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 5, 2025

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In late January, just hours after the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than 20 years—and as families and the nation were still grieving—President Donald Trump, without evidence, blamed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for the crash that killed 67 people near Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

“Trump blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for encouraging the Federal Aviation Administration to recruit workers ‘who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative,'” the Associated Press reported. “He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and ‘dwarfism.'”

The President provided no proof that unqualified air traffic controllers were to blame, or even that any air traffic controllers who were not qualified had been hired, although “he acknowledged that there was as yet no indication that air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport made any mistakes.”

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On the first day of his second term in office, Trump signed numerous executive orders, some focused on DEI, including one titled, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”

Now, the Trump administration’s Department of Transportation, under Secretary Sean Duffy, is spending over $2 million to investigate whether DEI causes plane crashes.

The Atlantic‘s Isaac Stanley-Becker reports he has “obtained the ‘scope of work’ document” for the multi-million dollar investigation. That document “is marked ‘privileged’ and ‘confidential’ and has not been previously reported. It shows how the president’s musings—his accusations, he said at the time, were based on ‘very strong opinions and ideas’—translate into taxpayer-funded government action.”

It appears that Trump’s baseless allegations likely will be determined to be just that.

“Contrary to what Trump may hope,” Stanley-Becker reveals, “it’s not expected to find that programs aimed at ensuring representation for women and people of color are responsible for this year’s string of aviation disasters, including the January crash at Reagan airport, which killed 67 people and prompted Trump’s tirade against DEI.”

“That determination, several air-traffic controllers told me, hardly required a multimillion-dollar probe.”

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