Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, is best known for his conspiracy theories about vaccines, COVID-19, and AIDS — but those are not the only ideas he has for overhauling the federal government. In particular, according to The Washington Post, he wants to make a significant technical overhaul to the way Medicare works.
Specifically, according to the report, he wants to audit and overhaul how medical billing codes work for the national insurance program for America's seniors — an idea that even many Democrats have pushed for years.
Medical coding in the United States "tends to reward health-care providers for surgeries and other costly procedures. It has been accused of steering physicians to become specialists because they will be paid more, while financial incentives are different in other countries, where more physicians go into primary care — and health outcomes are better," wrote Dan Diamond, national health reporter for the Post.
"Medicare’s billing codes are shaped by the American Medical Association, which represents more than 250,000 physicians. The lobbying group oversees a panel of several dozen physicians — known as the AMA/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee, more commonly referred to as the RUC — who study the resources needed for each medical service and issue recommendations to the federal government," the report continued.
However, the RUC's advice has "historically been skewed by misleading estimates of how physicians spend their time, according to a 2013 Washington Post investigation," which has raised concerns about corruption from everyone from former Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
This comes at the same time that Trump has tapped TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, a thoracic surgeon infamous for downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic and pushing unsupported dietary supplements, to head up the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
While there appears to be some level of bipartisan agreement on the medical coding issue, some conservatives are expressing alarm at the fact that Kennedy, who used to be a Democrat, has wildly unpredictable views on GOP orthodoxy. The National Review recently blasted the pick in light of Kennedy's longtime support of abortion rights.