President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to involve anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his next administration in some capacity, but whoever else he picks to run the major health agencies will have a major impact on the GOP health agenda of the next four years.
Top posts require Senate confirmation, meaning Trump will need Senate buy-in too. Positions include Health and Human Services secretary, which requires Senate confirmation; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, which will require Senate confirmation beginning in January 2025; Food and Drug Administration commissioner and National Institutes of Health director, which also require Senate confirmation.
Republican health priorities will likely include increased health care transparency and lowering drug costs, as well as limiting health care access for LGBTQ individuals and, potentially, further limiting access to abortion. This might look like rolling back Title X regulations, which are federal dollars for family planning, or the Mexico City policy, which blocks federal funding for nongovernmental organizations that provide abortion counseling or services.
