President-Elect Trump has announced his picks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) and its agencies. Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS Secretary; Dr. Mehmet Oz for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); and Dr. Marty Makary for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner. While is too early to know the position of these leaders on different issues of interest to AHPA, it seems that food nutrition and reducing chronic disease will be a top priority for the next HHS Administration. Here’s a brief look at each of them:

HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr

After retiring from his work as an environmental lawyer, Kennedy founded Children’s Health Defense, a group whose mission is to “end childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure.” The group, along with Kennedy, has a been a leading voice on the anti-vaccination movement and a strong critic of pharmaceutical companies. Promising to “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy is expected to support coverage of alternative therapies and wellness incentives. “If a doctor’s patient has diabetes or obesity, the doctor ought to be able to say, ‘I’m going to recommend gym membership, and I’m going to recommend good food.’ And Medicaid ought to be able to finance those things the same as they would Ozempic,” Kennedy said during a town hall in Philadelphia in September, referring to a weight-loss drug. He also indicated that he would remove certain food dyes and food preservatives, but may face opposition from the Republican base. Is still too early to know Kennedy’s position on issues such as the 340B program as he has been an avid critic of pharmaceutical companies. However, we know that President-elect Trump had an interest in reforming the 340B program in his past Administration.

CMS Administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz

Dr. Oz received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University. Dr. Oz became known for providing nutritional and lifestyle advice on the Oprah Winfrey Show before moving on to host his own daytime show in 2009, the Dr. Oz Show. If he is confirmed as CMS’ Administrator, we expect Dr. Oz to be supportive of Medicare Advantage (MA) and its expansion. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oz co-authored a policy piece in Forbes (with former Kaiser CEO George Halvorsen) endorsing a “Medicare Advantage for All” system. Instead of employer-sponsored insurance and the Exchanges, “every American who is not on Medicaid” would purchase their care through MA. In the same piece, Oz expressed admiration for how Western European countries deliver care, specifically citing payroll tax as a stream of revenue for citizens’ health care. The Oz model recommended a new 20% payroll tax to be split 50-50 between employers and employees. The funding pool would be used to buy Medicare Advantage “for the purpose of creating universal coverage.”

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Oz received significant criticism for promoting untested and ineffective treatments for COVID-19 which were later found to lead to higher rates of mortality than if the patients were left untreated.

FDA Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary

Last week, Trump selected Dr. Marty Makary, a surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University, to be the next Commissioner of the FDA. Dr. Makary gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for his opposition to vaccines, lockdowns, and mask mandates. In February of 2021, Dr. Makary published an essay in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the US government was underestimating the rate of herd immunity for COVID-19. He also predicted that the US would achieve herd immunity by April 2021, which did not come to pass. Meeting with congressional leaders earlier this year, Dr. Makary criticized federal agencies for failing to focus on addressing chronic diseases and declared that the US government was the “greatest perpetrator of misinformation [on nutrition] with the food pyramid.”