A look at who might be on Trump’s health care team shortlist

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into his next administration in some capacity, but whoever he chooses to run major health agencies will have a major impact on the health of the Republican Party. parties. agenda for the next four years.

Top positions require Senate confirmation, meaning Trump will also need Senate support. The positions include Secretary of Health and Human Services, which requires Senate confirmation; the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who will require Senate confirmation beginning in January 2025; Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Director of the National Institutes of Health, which also requires Senate confirmation.

Republican health care priorities will likely include increasing health care transparency and lowering drug costs, as well as limiting access to health care for the LGBT community and potentially further limiting access to abortion. This could look like repealing Title X rules that provide federal money for family planning, or the Mexico City policy that blocks federal funding for non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling or services.

It could also look like eliminating rules regarding nondiscrimination in health care, interference in drug price negotiations, or nursing home staffing requirements.

Here are some of the names being mentioned for Trump’s future health policy positions:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Trump reiterated his promise to bring RFK Jr. into his administration during his victory speech on Tuesday, but it is unlikely he will be nominated to lead a major agency.

“He’s going to help make America healthy again. He’s a great guy and he really means it. He wants to do something, and we’re going to let him do it,” Trump told supporters at the West Palm Beach Convention Center during his victory speech Tuesday night.

In an interview with MSNBC On Wednesday morning, Kennedy said he would eliminate entire sections of the FDA, including the nutrition division, which was recently revamped as part of the agency’s efforts to create a human food program.

Many experts say they believe Kennedy will serve as more of an informal adviser to Trump because it may be difficult to convince a majority of senators, even in the GOP-led House, to confirm him.

“I see someone like that, a little bit like Elon Musk … someone who whispers in the administration’s ear,” said K&L Gates government relations adviser and former RNC delegate Amy Carnevale.

Joseph A. Ladapo

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is being considered to lead HHS. This was first reported by ABC News..

Like Kennedy, Ladapo is skeptical about vaccines.

Under his leadership, Florida has bypassed CDC pandemic guidelines regarding masks and social distancing, as well as vaccination requirements for children. In October 2022, it recommended that men aged 18 to 39 avoid the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine due to a slightly increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease. The study he cited was widely criticized, and the FDA and CDC sent him a letter asking him to stop spreading misinformation.

Lapado was first appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021.

After Trump’s victory Ladapo tweeted said Wednesday that “the future of health care freedom in America looks brighter.”

“As in Florida, it’s time to say no to trampling people’s rights, gaslighting citizens about experimental vaccines that harm rather than help, and silencing doctors who disagree with orthodoxy. Light conquers darkness,” he said.

Roger Severino

Roger Severino, former director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights under Trump and current vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, wrote: Part of HHS Project 2025.

Severino is one of the most outspoken opponents of abortion in the Republican Party. He has repeatedly said the government should not treat abortion as medical care and has called for de-approving medication abortion, codifying the Hyde Amendment and removing the morning-after pill from the contraceptive list.

In Project 2025, he also calls on the NIH to stop promoting “junk gender science” and revise the definition of sex to, among other things, not include gender identity.

Brian Blaze

Brian Blase, Trump’s former special assistant for economic policy at the White House National Economic Council and current president of the Paragon Health Institute, could return for a second administration.

In his latest email, Blase called Trump’s victory “an opportunity to build on the health care gains made during his first term,” pointing mainly to policies that have expanded the availability of short-term health plans, association health plans and price transparency.

During the Biden administration, Blase analyzed and promoted the expansion of health savings plans. He suggestedd allowing low-income exchange participants the opportunity to receive a portion of their subsidy as an HSA deposit rather than as a subsidy to the insurer.

He also opposed the Biden administration’s expansion of Medicaid during the COVID-19 public health emergency and called for limiting the program’s coverage to only those with the lowest incomes and most vulnerable.

Paul Mango

Mango, another former Trump administration official and adviser to the Paragon Institute, served as HHS deputy chief of staff from 2019 to 2021 and was HHS Secretary Alex Azar’s official liaison to Operation Warp Speed. From 2018 to 2019, Mango served as chief of staff of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. His institutional knowledge of the department could be seen as an advantage for the incoming Trump administration.

Eric Hargan

Another Trump administration alumnus, Eric Hargan, served as Trump’s deputy health secretary and also served as acting secretary. He also served on the board of Operation Warp Speed. Hargan oversaw the creation and launch of the Pandemic Provider Relief Fund.

Hargan also served as acting deputy secretary of the Department of Health under then-President George W. Bush.

He is currently the founder and CEO of the Hargan Group, where he focuses on healthcare, government relations and public affairs.

Joe Grogan

Joe Grogan was a Trump aide and director of his Domestic Policy Council. He was also a member of the White House coronavirus task force in the early days of the pandemic. But Grogan did not serve the entire first term and resigned in May 2020 to join Verde Technologies.

During his time in the White House, Grogan worked closely to lower drug costs, ban surprise medical bills and expand testing for COVID-19. He has been a vocal opponent of the Biden administration’s policy of negotiating drug costs with Medicare, saying it would reduce pharmaceutical innovation, and called repeatedly to reform the FDA to speed up the drug review and approval process.

Grogan is also currently at the Paragon Health Institute, where he serves as Chairman of the Board.

Bobby Jindal

The former Louisiana governor is now chairman of the Center for a Healthy America, a wing of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that advises Trump. Jindal’s focus on health policy is not new: He served as assistant health secretary under George W. Bush. Over the past few years he called for change to health care exchanges, strengthened price transparency efforts, and opposed single-payer health care.