--- title: "Dr. Oz Crashes Out Trying to Explain How Trump Cut Drug Prices by by “1,500 Percent,” Which Would Mean People Were Being Paid to Take Drugs" description: "Dr. Mehmet Oz babbled complete nonsense while trying to explain the impossible arithmetic behind Trump's drug price claims." date: "2025-10-26" modified: "2025-10-26" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/dr-oz-math-trump" categories: - "Future Society" - "Health & Medicine" --- # Dr. Oz Crashes Out Trying to Explain How Trump Cut Drug Prices by by “1,500 Percent,” Which Would Mean People Were Being Paid to Take Drugs ![Dr. Mehmet Oz babbled complete nonsense while trying to explain the impossible arithmetic behind Trump's drug price claims.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images* Something just wasn't adding up when Dr. Mehmet Oz — the current administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid service — tried to explain president Trump's new drug pricing scheme. That something was his brain trying to make sense of pretty simple math. During an [interview]() on the *NBC News* "Meet the Press" segment on Wednesday, Oz was asked about Trump's absurd claim that he [slashed prescription drug prices]() by up to "1,500 percent" — and completely lost it. "Cutting drug prices by 400 percent — anything over 100 percent— wouldn't that effectively make them free?" asked anchor Kristen Welker. "Is that a realistic goal from the president?" Oz's response seemed to demonstrate to the world that he was the kid who never braved going up to the chalkboard to solve a math problem in front of class. "The president does the calculation by saying, 'OK, if a drug was $100 and you reduce it to $50, it's 100 percent cheaper because you're taking $50 off and leaving you with only $50," explained the 65-year-old board-certified physician. "So the amount you took off the price is equal to the amount that's left. They're equal so it's 100 percent." Welker, baffled, reminded Oz that Trump said *1,500* percent, perhaps letting him off easy by not calling out his horrendously mangled math; slashing a drug that costs $100 by 1,500 percent would mean it now costs $-1,400, which would seemingly mean that patients were being paid to take pharmaceuticals instead of the other way around. But try explaining that that to Oz. "Well, if you take a drug that is $200 or $240 like we did last week and reduce it to $10," Oz continued, "those are the numbers you're talking about. That stated, the bigger question we should be asking ourselves is why didn't we do this earlier?" This time, Welker didn't even bother to correct him — he was already too busy bloviating about how awesome the administration he's serving in is. Dr. Oz is a certified doctor, to be clear. But he's one with a long history of [spreading blatant misinformation](), like bogus health claims, or advocating unproven forms of "alternative" medicine. His latest arithmetic catastrophe is a prime example of the absolute cranks that Trump has appointed to run his administration's health policy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump's [brain-worm-having]() secretary of the Health and Human Services, [thinks vaccines cause autism](), wants to [remove fluoride from drinking water]() because he thinks it's "industrial waste," and [suggested that]() mass shootings are caused by video games. **More on the Trump administration:** *[Elon Musk Accuses Head of NASA of Being "Gay"]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()