What Bill Cassidy Wants to Hear From Trump’s MAHA-Friendly Surgeon General Nominee

Make American Healthy Again skeptics and allies alike are looking to surgeon general nominee Casey Means’ confirmation hearing for signs that the functional medicine entrepreneur and wellness influencer is on their team.

Means, an ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., faces the Senate during a tumultuous time for the MAHA movement. The administration’s sweeping move to limit childhood vaccine recommendations and disseminate questionable nutrition advice has alarmed the public health community and run afoul of public opinion. Meanwhile, the MAHA world is furious about the administration’s reluctance to take on major chemicals used by the agricultural industry.

Many are waiting to see how Means navigates those issues.

“She’s going to be the nation’s doctor, if you will. So I want to make sure that what she says is grounded in that,” Sen. Bill Cassidy told NOTUS on Tuesday ahead of the Wednesday morning hearing with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Cassidy chairs.

“Surgeon General, almost, I guess, by definition, is a doctor,” Cassidy added.

Means attended medical school but dropped out of a residency program. Her medical license is currently inactive.

Cassidy, a physician, voted for Kennedy’s confirmation last year, but has since pushed back on some of the administration’s policy initiatives, including cuts to the childhood vaccine schedule. He said he hoped Means’ testimony would reflect the “basic knowledge that you come out of medical school with.”

“Medicine teaches you things which are not up for grabs, but they’re true,” Cassidy said.

The surgeon general has traditionally been one of the most outward-facing roles in the U.S. public health infrastructure. Previous appointees have championed causes like smoking cessation and youth mental health.

After leaving the medical profession, Means found success as a wellness influencer. She co-authored a book with her brother, Calley Means, another close Kennedy ally, who serves as a senior adviser for the Health Department. Casey Means also founded a biotech health-tracking company, Levels.

Casey Means has drawn criticism from some Kennedy allies who say she has not expressed enough skepticism about vaccines, though many of her “holistic approaches to health” align with other members of the MAHA movement.

In one edition of her newsletter published before the 2024 election, Means also called for the government to “investigate toxins in our food supply and restrict/ban those that are known to cause diseases in animals and humans.”

“We cannot go on poisoning the earth without destroying our own health; we are one with nature,” she wrote. Means didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.

Prominent activists in the MAHA movement told NOTUS that they hoped Means’ confirmation could push back against the Trump administration’s recent moves that they saw as too deferential to large agriculture companies that manufacture or use pesticides.

“We need people in Washington with intellectual honesty, and she is the missing puzzle piece,” said Vani Hari, a food influencer also known as Food Babe.

Hari was among the MAHA movement figures who were displeased with a recent executive order that seeks to guarantee a supply of certain phosphorus- and glyphosate-based pesticides, claiming they are critical to national security.

Those pesticides, including Bayer’s blockbuster weedkiller Roundup, have been linked to cancers; the companies are facing litigation. The executive order also grants “immunity” to Bayer and other manufacturers from further lawsuits.

Hari acknowledged that the surgeon general doesn’t have a major role in policy-making. But she said she hoped Means could spread the message of clean food to both the general public and to government bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The rhetoric has changed dramatically, and I think that’s going to have everlasting impact on the culture of America,” Hari said.

Others within the MAHA movement were still waiting to pass judgment on whether Means would be able to make a difference within the administration.

“As a mother, having a new mom and physician as Surgeon General such as Dr. Casey Means, conceptually would be a dream come true. However, if you are asking me if her confirmation would quell any of my concerns about this administration’s approach to pesticides, my response is, we shall see,” Zen Honeycutt, a self-identified “MAHA Mom” who runs the nonprofit Moms Across America, wrote in an email to NOTUS.

Honeycutt added, “Clearly, a person’s intentions and commitments do not always result in actions and promises fulfilled, in any administration.”