NCPA Statement on Confirmation of RFK as HHS Secretary

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Feb. 13, 2025) – The U.S. Senate today confirmed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy explicitly supported pharmacy benefit manager reform, a top priority of independent pharmacists and an issue President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would focus on. After the Senate vote, the National Community Pharmacists Association issued the following statement on behalf of CEO B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, MBA:

“Now that Secretary Kennedy has been confirmed, we are eager to work with him and his team to educate them about how one of the country’s most important public health assets – the 19,000 independent pharmacies across the country – are in great jeopardy because of the unfair, anticompetitive business practices of PBMs and insurers that administer Medicare Part D for millions of seniors. He has shown a willingness to take on the corporations like big health insurance on behalf of citizens and small businesses. Small business-owned pharmacies are disappearing, and pharmacy deserts are forming, because of the business practices of Big Insurance and their PBM subsidiaries, and we very much hope Kennedy and the Trump administration will support our effort to rein in these bad actors.”