Congressman Auchincloss questions Kennedy on the corruption of Trump Administration healthcare officials
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) questioned Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about conflicts of interest stemming from the Trump Administration’s use of special government employees who still run and own their own health care companies. Earlier this month, Auchincloss sent letters calling on the boards of health companies True Medicine (TrueMed) and Main Street Health to provide information about conflicts of interest regarding their founders’ roles as special government employees overseeing health policy for the Trump administration: Calley Means of TrueMed, and Brad Smith of Main Street Health.
Mr. Means currently serves as a White House Advisor and as a Special Government Employee detailed to Secretary Kennedy. As a leading policy-maker behind the Trump Administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative, Mr. Means has significant influence in both regulation and legislation. Mr. Means’ TrueMed creates partnerships with businesses to sell health and wellness products, many of which are not FDA-regulated. TrueMed offers “letters of medical necessity” (LMNs) that enable patients to use pre-tax dollars from their Health Savings Accounts (HSA) to purchase these products. The Executive Order establishing the MAHA commission ordered health agencies to promote this application of HSAs, ultimately suggesting increased revenue for companies like TrueMed. The ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ also promotes the use of HSAs.
Mr. Smith served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) until his reported departure on May 29, 2025. In this position, Mr. Smith was reportedly the primary official responsible for planning and implementing the major reduction-in-force (RIF) at HHS. Mr. Smith’s Main Street Health’s biggest investors are regulated by or transact with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), including the largest Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs): UnitedHealthcare, Centene, CVS Health Ventures, Elevance, and Humana. These MAOs benefited from the Administration’s reduction in oversight and increase in reimbursement, as well as from Mr. Smith’s ability to win favor with CMS by protecting personnel from RIFs.
As Special Government Employees, neither Mr. Means nor Mr. Smith were required to recuse themselves from their private business interests or obtain ethics waivers. Please find below portions of Auchincloss’ questioning of Secretary Kennedy:
Auchincloss: Good afternoon, Secretary. You've emphasized throughout your career concerns about corruption and conflicts of interest in health care, yes?
Secretary Kennedy: About corruption and health care?
Rep. Auchincloss: Yes.
Secretary Kennedy. Yeah.
Rep. Auchincloss: And you've pledged during your confirmation hearing and then again today, quote. Radical transparency, yes?
Secretary Kennedy. Yes.
Rep. Auchincloss: And you explained to my colleague from New York that you divested yourself, yes?
Secretary Kennedy. Yes.
Rep. Auchincloss:: And you fired the 17 members of ACIP because you think they have conflicts of interest?
Secretary Kennedy: Yes.
Rep. Auchincloss:: And do you think that everybody within Health and Human Services at a senior level should hold themselves to a standard of radical transparency and divestment?
Secretary Kennedy: Well, I'm going to hold them to that standard but–
Rep. Auchincloss: So not everybody should hold themselves to a standard...?
Secretary Kennedy. Well, everybody, and OGE makes them all divest.
“Rep. Auchincloss:: So, everybody should divest and everybody should be radically transparent–who works for you?
Secretary Kennedy: Yes.
Rep. Auchincloss: Yes. And, does that include people who have involvement in Health and Human Services policymaking, even if they're not in your department, would you want them to be radically transparent as well?
Secretary Kennedy: I don't have any control over anybody except those in my department.
Rep Auchincloss: Well, I think you do. Let's talk, though, about how radically transparent you have been to date, because I want to ensure for the American public that they're getting what you pledged. Mr. Calley Means is a Special Government Employee. He's also a White House adviser, you know him well, he actually introduced you to Donald Trump. And he's the founder and the owner of TrueMed.
Now, TrueMed is a company that sells saunas and supplements, and maybe medical devices that you describe, to people using pre-tax dollars. And he has described his mission as routing federal funds away from health insurance programs towards these Health Savings Accounts.
Now, Mr. Means has tremendous influence over Medicare and Medicaid. Based on the executive order on Making America Healthy Again and the One Big Beautiful Bill, which both call for the expansion of HSA usage for these wellness and supplement products – so that's a direct revenue stream for his company while he's working in the government.”
Please find the full video of Rep. Auchincloss’ exchange with Secretary Kennedy on Mr. Smith and Mr. Means here.