On Friday, it was announced that Tom Price resigned as Health and Human Services Secretary amid investigations and criticisms that he was using taxpayer money to travel in private charters and military jets.
Price who is a former orthopedic surgeon, has been vocal about his opposition of the Affordable Care Act and making deep cuts to programs such as Medicare and Social Security. According to The Washington Post, he is a longtime member of an alternative medical group called the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which opposes Medicare and offers training to doctors on how to opt out of the program. The group also opposes mandatory vaccination as “equivalent to human experimentation.”
In the interim, Mr. Trump tapped Don J. Wright, a deputy assistant secretary for health and the director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, to serve as acting secretary. Possible candidates for a successor include Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.