Trump Announces Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Next HHS Secretary

Late on Nov. 14, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would name Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. He would succeed the current HHS Secretary, Xavier Becerra, after President Joe Biden’s term ends in January.

The Washington Post stated that “President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services, the sprawling agency responsible for administering millions of Americans’ health insurance, approving drugs and medical supplies, regulating food and responding to infectious-disease outbreaks. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, is the latest Trump selection for his Cabinet who could face a contentious Senate confirmation.”

And CNBC’s Dan Mangan wrote on Thursday that “If the Senate approves Kennedy, the former independent presidential candidate will lead a sprawling department responsible for the huge Medicare and Medicaid health coverage programs, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HHS’s decisions on spending and policies have major effects on the U.S. health-care system and related businesses.”

Mangan noted that “Kennedy, 70, is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, the late U.S. attorney general and Democratic senator from New York who was assassinated in 1968 by a gunman in Los Angeles as he ran for president. He is the nephew of former President John Kennedy who was assassinated in 1963. Trump said in October that if elected he would let Kennedy ‘Go wild on health.’”

To read the full article, see "BREAKING NEWS: Trump to Nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary," which originally appeared on Healthcare Innovation, an Endeavor Business Media partner site.