Dr. Oz Shilled for an Alternative to Medicare

In August, Dr. Mehmet Oz’s official YouTube account posted a videotitled “Get $0/Month Medicare Coverage: What You Need to Know,” in which Oz lays a sales pitch on his viewers. “Which of these items can you get for zero dollars?” he says, pointing to images of a coffee cup, a pack of gum, and a newspaper, as if quizzing a toddler on the pictures in a children’s book. “Or how about a health-insurance plan?” he says. If you’ve ever watched daytime television, you know how the next part goes: Oz reveals he was, indeed, talking about the health-insurance plan, and the studio audience erupts into applause. He then brings out an insurance agent to paint a rosy portrait of Medicare Advantage before ending with a call to action, encouraging any seniors in the audience to call into a special phone number or visit a website to learn more and enroll.

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