Health Care Newsletter

Trump jettisons Casey Means

by Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi - 04/30/26 7:12 PM ET

Link copied

by Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi - 04/30/26 7:12 PM ET

Link copied

Greg Nash

Nominee for U.S. Surgeon General Casey Means answers questions during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee nomination hearing on Feb. 25, 2026.

- Click in for more news from The Hill

{beacon}

Health Care

The Big Story

Trump jettisons Casey Means

President Trump is on to his third surgeon general nominee: on Thursday he dropped Casey Means and tapped Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier.

Moving on from Means is a blow to the Make America Healthy Again movement, and Trump and his allies blamed Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

Saphier, a radiologist and author, is Trump’s third nominee to be Surgeon General in his second term after Means and fellow Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat.

“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, calling Saphier an “incredible communicator.”

Trump and his allies directly blamed Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for Means’s nomination failing to advance in the Senate.

He called the senator, a physician who voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite deep concerns with his vaccine policies, “disloyal.”

The health committee said it declined to hold a vote on Means because she didn’t have the support to be confirmed.

“For months, Senator Bill Cassidy (of the GREAT State of Louisiana!), a very disloyal person whose ‘TRUMP’ Endorsement got him elected, but later voted to impeach ‘President Trump’ on what has now proven to be a total Hoax and Scam, has stood in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Nominee, Casey Means, for the important position of U.S. Surgeon General,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Kennedy also joined in the attacks, writing on social media: “By sabotaging this appointment, Bill Cassidy once again did the dirty work for entrenched interests seeking to stall the MAHA movement and protect the very status quo that has made America the sickest nation on earth.”

White House senior adviser Calley Means, Casey’s brother, echoed these sentiments.

“Bill Cassidy is a mindless avatar for his donors and a blind defender of the status quo system that is profiting from American sickness,” he added. “At every turn during Casey’s confirmation, Bill Cassidy worked to delay her and smear her.”

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Who is Nicole Saphier, new Trump surgeon general nominee?

President Trump tapped Dr. Nicole Saphier on Thursday to be the next U.S. surgeon general. The president called Saphier a “STAR physician” in a Truth Social post, specifically commending her work on breast cancer treatment. “She is also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans,” Trump wrote in the post. “Dr. Nicole Saphier will do great things …

Full Story

Inside the booming, gray-market world of injectable peptides

Injectable peptides are all the rage for many health-conscious Americans, thanks in part to the hype coming from the nation’s top health official. But enthusiasm might be outpacing regulatory controls and public understanding of what these products truly are …

Full Story

 Trump pulls Casey Means nomination for surgeon general for Fox News’s Nicole Saphier

President Trump on Thursday pulled the controversial nomination of Casey Means for surgeon general, announcing on Truth Social that her replacement would be Fox News contributor and radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier, marking his third nominee for the post. “Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase …

Full Story

In Other News

Branch out with a different read:

FDA affirms safety of infant formula from heavy metals

The U.S. infant formula supply is largely safe from contaminants, according to new testing results announced Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administr