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This is Civics 101. I'm Nick Cappadice.

The HSS, that is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they oversee Medicare,

Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.

HHS regulates the medicines we take, funds groundbreaking research,

and sets recommendations for the vaccines we give our kids. And two weeks ago,

President-elect Donald Trump promised to shake up Washington, and he is doing just that as he

staffs up his administration. President-elect Donald Trump has announced he is nominating a controversial pick,

a vaccine skeptic who has repeatedly pushed to bunk science, to run the department.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Mr. Trump's pick for Secretary of the Health and Human Services

Department. Now, unless the new president can get around it one way or another, Kennedy's

nomination is headed

to the Senate for a vote. It is that body who will decide whether or not to give RFK Jr. the

position and therefore the power to influence the health of the country. The secretary is in a

position to do a lot of good, but also potentially do a lot of harm.

Today, we're bringing you a conversation with former HHS Secretary Kathleen Zabilius

about what the country's top health official can do, what they can't do, and what RFK

Jr. would have to do to implement his agenda. The episode you're about to hear was brought our way by our friends at tradeoffs.

It is a podcast about health care and the systems behind it.

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