Hakeem Jeffries Trashes Dr. Oz, Gets Hit With Brutal Fact-Check

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) mocked and summarily dismissed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the cardio-thoracic surgeon-turned television personality who is currently serving in President Donald Trump’s administration as the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Jeffries, while taking questions from the press, responded to a mention of Oz with derisive laughter followed by insults, claiming that Oz was not to be “taken seriously” and was “woefully unqualified” to be posing questions about health care.

WATCH:

I asked @RepJeffries about @DrOz telling Fox there are millions of “phantom enrollees” on ACA

His response: “Nobody who’s serious in this country takes Dr. Oz seriously”

Dr. Oz:

– Harvard B.A. & UPenn M.D./M.B.A.
– Board-Certified Cardiothoracic Surgeon pic.twitter.com/EnLs0d95Bc

— Darren Botelho (@DarrenBotelho) November 10, 2025

“Dr. Oz said that —” Fox Business national correspondent Darren Botelho began, but Jeffries interrupted.

“Who?” he asked, prompting laughter from around the room.

Botelho finished his question, asking about the millions of “phantom enrollees” — people who are technically enrolled in plans under the Affordable Care Act but who never use the benefits, either because they were fraudulently enrolled without their knowledge or because they have other coverage and therefore don’t need it. Jeffries took a drink of water and smiled while he waited for Botelho to stop talking.

“That’s like the most random way to start a question on a serious topic, nobody who’s serious in this country takes Dr. Oz seriously — no one,” Jeffries said, making no effort to address the “serious topic” as he continued to mock Dr. Oz. “I mean, it’s shocking that the guy was even confirmed. But this is part of the reality that Republicans here in the House and over in the Senate — they’re nothing more than a rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s cruelty and extreme agenda.”

“I have no idea what Dr. Oz is talking about and neither do the American people. I’m not going to respond to any comments from randos like Dr. Oz, who is woefully unqualified to be in whatever position he holds in the administration. He’s a joke, these people are a joke,” Jeffries continued, still not answering the question. “But the issue of the health care of the American people is very serious, and that’s what we’ll continue to focus on.”

Fox News anchor John Roberts pushed back, reminding Jeffries of Dr. Oz’s rather hefty resume.

.@hakeemjeffries just insisted that @DrOz is “unqualified”.
Just a quick fact check for the minority leader:
Mehmet Oz
Undergraduate degree – Harvard
MD – UPenn
MBA – Wharton School
He was a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital before taking the… pic.twitter.com/pEzd6f70Hk

— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) November 10, 2025

“@hakeemjeffries just insisted that @DrOz is ‘unqualified,'” Roberts posted via X. “Just a quick fact check for the minority leader: Mehmet Oz: Undergraduate degree — Harvard; MD — UPenn; MBA — Wharton School; He was a renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital before taking the leap into TV.”

A slightly more detailed explainer supplied by @grok added, “Dr. Mehmet Oz earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a joint MD-MBA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. He is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon who performed over 100 heart surgeries annually early in his career. Oz also served as a professor of surgery and vice-chair at Columbia University’s Cardiovascular Institute until retiring as emeritus in 2018.”