Dr. Oz Tells Americans Who Are Concerned About Medicaid Cuts to Eat Less Cake

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.

Mehmet Oz on Medicaid: "We'll be there for you, the American people, when you need help, but you gotta stay healthy yourself … don't eat carrot cake. Eat real food."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-07-14T13:30:32.217Z

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.

“To find places to save, in the face of massive federal funding losses, states will be forced to consider cutting any parts of the program that are not federally required,” that analysis found. “With everything on the table, children whose eligibility is not required by federal law are at risk of losing coverage.”

Twenty-one percent of children in the U.S. who receive Medicaid fall into that “optional” category, along with 18 percent of disabled children.

For children ages 1-4 years old, the most common reason for a hospital stay in the U.S. is acute bronchitis, and for those ages 5-9, the most common reason is asthma. For kids ages 10-17, the most frequent reason for a stay in the hospital is a depressive disorder.

A reduction in cake consumption cannot help kids facing those situations.

“If states potentially must find hundreds of billions of dollars in health care savings, no population is safe,” the analysis added. “Medicaid’s role in child health policy has emerged as one of its greatest achievements. But with a program as complex as Medicaid, deep federal funding cuts will set up a chain reaction that will harm children and families alike.”