Trump’s pick for health secretary showed a poor understanding of a key part of the job.

Kennedy Jr.'s statements before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday revealed a concerning lack of knowledge about the major health programs he'd oversee, should he be confirmed as HHS secretary.

Senators grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on if and how he would reform Medicaid and Medicare during his first confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of Health and Human Services.

That is not quite how Medicaid works, Mr. Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday “most Americans are not happy” with Medicaid because “the premiums are too high,” suggesting he may be oblivious to the fact that Medicaid overwhelmingly does not have premiums.

During his testimony, Kennedy falsely claimed that “most Americans are not happy” with Medicaid because “the premiums are too high.” Both ends of that statement are wildly incorrect — the vast majority of recipients within the income-based program do not pay premiums at all, and Americans are broadly supportive of Medicaid.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead HHS, stumbled multiple times during his first Senate confirmation hearing when asked about Medicaid.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. incorrectly said that Medicaid was fully funded by the federal government and that Medicare is a fee-for-service program during a hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.

Kennedy's misstatements about the program were peppered in between suggestions that he would seek to push privatization of the programs.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was pressed to clarify his views on vaccines, abortion, and public health priorities in his first Senate hearing.

On Capitol Hill, one of President Trump’s most consequential and controversial nominees made his case for the top job at the Department of Health and Human Services. In his first of two hearings, former environmental lawyer and presidential candidate Robert F.