An Open Letter to Dr. Mehmet Oz

A Prescription for Unfitness

Dear Dr. Oz,

First off, congratulations are in order! You’ve done it: You’ve successfully pivoted from infomercial pitchman to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It’s a remarkable career trajectory, moving from selling miracle weight-loss pills to, well, overseeing the healthcare of over 130 million Americans. Bravo! Who knew that hawking green coffee bean extract could lead to a job managing one of the largest healthcare programs in the world? The plot twists keep coming.

But here’s the thing, Dr. Oz: CMS is not a reality show. It’s not a stage for you to continue your crusade of self-promotion wrapped in the guise of health advice. It’s a government agency with a massive responsibility to the public—specifically to people who depend on Medicare and Medicaid to survive. You can’t just play fast and loose with the facts when it comes to people’s health. People need competent leadership based on science, not a string of headlines that could fill an episode of "What Not to Do in Medicine."

Let’s take a moment to reflect on some of your greatest hits. In 2014, the U.S. Senate was forced to call you in for a public grilling after you used your TV platform to promote unproven weight-loss supplements like some kind of late-night infomercial host. You defended yourself by claiming that your show was "entertaining" and that you “personally believed” in these miracle pills. That’s cute, Dr. Oz. But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services doesn’t run on your personal beliefs, or on entertainment value—it runs on hard science, data, and evidence-based healthcare policies. Concepts you appear to regard with about as much reverence as a kale smoothie on a keto diet.

Then, in 2015, your own colleagues at Columbia University felt compelled to publicly call for your removal, accusing you of peddling “quack treatments.” These weren’t disgruntled laypeople, mind you. These were your fellow doctors—people who took an oath to do no harm. And you, Dr. Oz, were doing harm by undermining public trust in medicine for the sake of a flashy, lucrative TV career.

But why stop there? Your post-pandemic commentary on COVID-19 is, frankly, an embarrassment. Promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, despite overwhelming evidence that it didn’t work, was not just irresponsible—it was dangerous. While the rest of the world was waiting for rigorous scientific trials to confirm effective treatments, you were busy making your own brand of misinformation mainstream, contributing to a viral conspiracy-theory circus. For a brief moment, you were the trusted voice for anyone more concerned with "alternative facts" than with, well, actual facts.

Dr. Oz, CMS requires someone who understands the delicate balance of healthcare policy, someone who is committed to science and, above all, the well-being of the American people. Instead, we get someone who once claimed astrology has an impact on health outcomes. It seems clear your career has been more about making a name for yourself than about advancing public health, and that should disqualify you from overseeing any aspect of Medicare or Medicaid.

America needs a leader who values evidence over spectacle, who sees public health as a duty rather than a branding opportunity. Instead, we have you—a man whose track record suggests that self-interest and sensationalism trump the safety and well-being of the people you are now tasked with serving.

This appointment is not just unqualified—it’s irresponsible. Lives are literally on the line, and we deserve better than your brand of "wellness."

Sincerely,
A Citizen Who Cares About Actual Healthcare

P.S. Please don’t send me a coupon for a 30-day “Miracle Belly Fat” pills.

P.P.S. If you happen to run into Donald Trump, please tell him to stop appointing spineless loyalists and second-rate sycophants to positions of power. America deserves competent leadership, not a revolving door of TV personalities and self-serving yes-men. Maybe he’ll listen to someone who’s been in the reality-show business for long enough to know the difference between entertainment and governance.