If approved, Kennedy will control a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees food and hospital inspections, hundreds of health clinics, vaccine recommendations and health insurance for roughly half the country.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee for HHS secretary, seemed unfamiliar with the massive insurance program during Thursday’s hearing, mistakenly saying Medicare Part A mainly paid for primary care or physicians.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings made clear that he is unqualified to be HHS secretary even beyond his positions on vaccines, writes Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

RFK Jr. claimed he is not “anti-vaccine” and appeared unfamiliar with key aspects of healthcare insurance programs in his confirmation hearing.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearings began Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. He appears before the Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee on Thursday. Anti-vaccine advocates are celebrating Kennedy’s committee appearance as a ‘historic’ event The anti-vaccine nonprofit group Kennedy used to lead,

The hearings were packed to capacity with protesters and fans, while the spillover crowd hung out in hallways and overflow rooms.

President Donald Trump's new appointee to head US Human and Health Services, Robert F. Kennedy, is likely to make some changes to Medicaid, his testimony to the Senate Finance Committee revealed Wednesday.