Dr. Mehmet Oz appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown this week and he stood firm on his statement that Americans should work more
21:49 ET, 07 Feb 2026Updated 21:49 ET, 07 Feb 2026
Dr. Oz believes that American working more will be beneficial to assisting in reducing the National Debt(Image: AP)
Dr. Mehmet Oz defended his previous statement that Americans should either work right after high school or retire one year later to help get rid of the National Debt.
The controversial physician was a guest on CNN‘s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown on Friday, February 6. Blitzer asked Dr. Oz about his remarks that he reiterated at the Action for Progress initiative launch event on February 2, and asked why should Americans be responsible for paying for Washington’s problem when taxing the “ultra rich” could fix it.
They also played a clip of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator stating that children should work “right out of high school” and that older Americans should postpone retirement by a year. He claimed in the clip that these would “generate three trillion dollars” for the US economy.
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Dr. Oz began by stating there are many ways to deal with the national debt, but his agency, CMS, is not just a regulator but also a payer.
He said they should be using the money they pay out to save lives and make the American people healthier. Dr. Oz said if they do that then they will “unlock the greatest asset we have is our people,” and he called Americans “our richest asset.”
Dr. Oz made an appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown
“If we make our people healthier, they’ll want to participate in life. You shouldn’t work longer because you have to. You should work longer because you want to,” Dr. Oz said.
He then brought up Blitzer as an example, saying how he could retire but won’t because he loves his job. Blitzer agreed, saying that he “wakes up every morning and looks forward to reporting the news.”
Dr. Oz concluded his appearance by stating that it’s a “great thing” if people want to continue working and how that will produce “so much value for the economy.”
Viewers responded to the video of Dr. Oz on CNN, doubling down on his remarks, and criticized the 65-year-old for his suggestion.
A person wrote, “What part of nobody ‘wants to’ work more does this idiot not understand????” A second person said, “Spoken by someone who has never earned $1 from subjecting his body to the demands of a blue collar job. Most bodies are worn out a decade or more before retirement age.”
Dr. Oz recently made that statement at the Action for Progress initiative launch on February 2
Another said, “I don’t want to work til I’m 80 to pay for the excesses of these greedy freeloading b——. Sorry, Ozzo.” A fourth said, “Working does not equal participating in life. Fixing the government’s mismanagement should be the job of the government not the people.”
A fifth said, “Participating in life is doing things with family and friends, new experiences, new adventures. Participating in life is not working until you are dead.
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