Kennedy confirmed as health secretary
By HME News Staff
Updated 11:19 AM CST, Thu February 13, 2025
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a largely party-line vote of 52-48.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote no.
Kennedy will replace Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink in overseeing the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CMS.
While Kennedy made a name for himself during the election for his focus on the safety of vaccines and the dangers of over-processed foods, it’s largely unknown what his plans are for Medicare and Medicaid.
The National Community Pharmacists Association, for one, says it is eager to work with Kennedy on pharmacy benefit manager reform, something he said he supported during the confirmation process.
“He has shown a willingness to take on the corporations like big health insurance on behalf of citizens and small businesses,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist. “Small business-owned pharmacies are disappearing, and pharmacy deserts are forming, because of the business practices of Big Insurance and their PBM subsidiaries, and we very much hope Kennedy and the Trump administration will support our effort to rein in these bad actors.”
Kennedy is expected to be sworn into office at the White House this afternoon.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X: “We are going to Make America Health Again.”
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