Dr. Oz says Americans should start working an extra year to raise $3 trillion — but for whom, exactly?

The Trump administration’s “health optimism” didn’t take much long to turn into a labor mandate. And Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, just provided the blueprint.

On Feb. 2, 2026, speaking at the National Press Building in Washington, Dr. Oz, laid out his latest big idea. If Americans worked one extra year, either by starting right after high school or delaying retirement, the economy could generate $3 trillion. That windfall, he said, would more than eliminate the national debt. It would apparently strengthen Medicare, stabilize Social Security, and produce “tremendous downstream benefits.”