Only six months into his second presidential term, Donald Trump has managed to disrupt, deplete and desecrate our nation’s already broken health care system, risking millions of lives.

A new report authored by Public Citizen Health Care Policy Advocate Eagan Kemp highlights the dangers posed by the men and women whom Trump has put in charge of our health care agencies and the threat they pose to patients, providers and the programs on which they rely.

The report includes details on:

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promotion of conspiracy theory and dangerous anti-science views before his confirmation and during his early months as head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
• Mehmet Oz’s dangerous views on privatization of Medicare and conflicts of interest, and his early efforts to undermine the programs he is supposed to protect as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• Jim O’Neill’s fringe views and significant ties to for-profit biomedical companies and the dangers they could pose as he serves as Deputy Secretary of HHS.
• Casey Means’s lack of qualifications for Surgeon General and misinformed and conspiratorial thinking on public health issues.

“Trump has nominated unqualified and dangerous people to serve in the most important health positions in the country,” said Kemp “From massive cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, layoffs of key staff, and failures to adequately engage with real emergencies, like the ongoing measles outbreak, America is reaping the bitter fruit of Trump’s terrible cabal. It is clear the Trump Administration will continue to exacerbate existing gaps in our health care system and risk millions more lives. People across the country are already pushing back against their terrible actions, and this must continue if we are to correct course and take back our health care system.”