Jim O’Neill Unfit to Be the #2 U.S. Healthcare Leader
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Only weeks before the Senate will confirm or reject Trump’s cabinet nominees, a new Public Citizen report examines one of Trump’s worst picks, Jim O’Neill, for U.S. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary. If confirmed, O’Neill would report to another dangerous HHS nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The report outlines highlights of O’Neill’s personal and career background that make him unfit for the position, including extremist remarks and ideas on deregulating healthcare agencies that, if implemented, could lead to potentially dangerous or even deadly outcomes. O’Neill has suggested, for example, that the Food and Drug Administration should grant marketing approval to pharmaceuticals based solely on safety and without regard to whether they actually work – a few that would set back drug approvals by a century and reflects a profound misunderstanding of the interconnection between safety and efficacy. From 2012-2019, O’Neill ran investment funds with and for Peter Thiel.
Public Citizen Co-President Lisa Gilbert reiterates that the Senate should decline to confirm O’Neill and RFK Jr. for HHS positions.
“Jim O’Neill has embraced extremist libertarian notions that are antithetical to basic public health and would be disastrous if adopted as policy. He is profoundly unfit to fill the number two slot at the Department of Health and Human Services,” said Gilbert. “We need a Department of Health and Human Services guided by science, truth and commitment to public health, not anti-health extremist ideology.”