Firebrand Al Lewis is relentlessly snide in his prosecution of corporate wellness in the public dock. His blog posts refer to the “self-described experts” of the “wellness ignorati” who produced a report he picks on, and then mocks a critic who says that calling people ignorant and liars is bullying.

Some of his criticisms are petty, such as when he mocks a nonprofit for misspelling founder director Warren Buffett’s name. But he does identify what appear to be charlatans in the field, documents instances of offering tests that the US Preventive Services Task Force doesn’t recommend, and questions why a leading insurer is pitching prescription weight loss drugs to some of their customers. 

He rails against his targets as self-serving while he pimps for his own services, such as when he writes on his contact page that “We’d love to talk to you about … helping you sue a wellness vendor.”

His “wellness primer”  answers the self-posed question of whether wellness vendors lie more than other people like this: “It depends how you define ‘lie.’ If you define ‘lie’ as ‘speak falsely,’ then yes. If you define ‘lie’ as ‘be in a prone or supine position,’ then no.” To answer another self-posed question, “Who are the authorities?” he answers, “You’re looking at ‘em.”

To recap: They all lie, and I’m the truth.

Lewis has done more research on these matters than I have, and just ‘cause someone is petty and has an attitude doesn’t make him wrong. But I can’t say that, in this case, I much want to believe him, either.

Next: A pliant Harvard Business Review lobs some softballs up to Andre Spicer.