Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines had been the central challenge in his affirmation hearings Wednesday, and rightly so. As secretary of Health and Human Providers, Kennedy would have myriad methods to undermine the supply of vaccines and public notion of their security.
However historically one of many crucial jobs of an HHS secretary is oversight of presidency medical health insurance packages, particularly Medicare and Medicaid. Collectively, these two packages pay medical payments for about one-third of the U.S. inhabitants and, alongside Social Safety, they symbolize among the largest claims on the federal price range.
Kennedy was requested questions on these packages too. His solutions had been halting, obscure and in some situations flat-out incorrect.
That would imply he was nervous and misspeaking. It might additionally imply he doesn’t perceive the important packages over which he would preside.
Sarcastically, among the errors got here in a solution to a senator who appeared inclined to go simple on Kennedy. It was Louisiana Republican Invoice Cassidy, a doctor who has already made clear he thinks Kennedy is “wrong” on vaccines.
As an alternative of urgent that case, Cassidy requested about Medicare (which is for seniors and folks with disabilities) and Medicaid (which is for individuals with low incomes). And he zeroed in on so-called twin eligibles, that means individuals who use each packages ― Medicare as their main supply of insurance coverage and Medicaid to cowl the out-of-pocket prices and different gaps in protection.
The disposition of twin eligibles is an enormous, ongoing challenge for policymakers as a result of they symbolize each among the most susceptible Individuals and among the costliest to cowl. And though it’s a posh topic, anyone pondering of taking a excessive place at HHS ― not to mention auditioning to be secretary ― could be anticipated to know and talk about the difficulty with ease.
However the query and Cassidy’s follow-ups appeared to throw off Kennedy, who was quickly making a collection of incorrect statements about Medicaid.
“Medicaid is a, um, has, is fully paid for by the federal government,” Kennedy mentioned.
In actuality, greater than 30% of the funding comes from states.
“The premiums are too high,” he mentioned, coming again to that time later within the trade when he requested rhetorically, “Are the premiums low enough?”
Really, Medicaid doesn’t have premiums, besides in particular circumstances and underneath state waivers.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP by way of Getty Photos
A couple of minutes later, Kennedy confronted extra adversarial questioning from one of many panel’s Democrats, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. This time the topic was Medicare and its energy to barter the worth of some prescribed drugs.
That energy didn’t exist till final 12 months, when the related parts of the 2022 Inflation Discount Act took impact. No Republicans voted for that regulation, which is a Joe Biden-era Democratic legacy. And a few Republicans have mentioned they wish to repeal it, although Trump has been silent on the matter.
Cortez Masto needed to know whether or not Kennedy, who has mentioned he helps efforts to decrease drug costs, would combat to guard the initiative. “Why are you there,” she mentioned, “to be a rubber stamp?”
Kennedy responded by saying, “The White House issued an executive order, I believe, today, supporting the drug negotiations under the IRA.”
No such government order exists on the White Home web site.
And whereas it’s attainable Kennedy is aware of a couple of forthcoming order, it’s extra doubtless he was referring to a brand new HHS assertion affirming that the company intends to proceed implementing the IRA — which, after all, it should do by regulation — and was looking for enter on learn how to enhance it.
That assertion didn’t handle Cortez Masto’s concern, about whether or not the administration helps or opposes efforts to repeal the regulation.
