Mass. lawmaker probes possible conflicts of interest for top RFK advisers
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Auchincloss cited their special status in his letters, requesting internal communications and descriptions of what ethical guidelines were put in place to prevent possible conflicts while they served. It's the latest escalation of his scrutiny of Kennedy's management and deputies at HHS.
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'RFK Jr. and his henchmen accuse scientists at the [Food and Drug Administration] of corruption when in fact they're the ones who have conflicts of interest, they're the ones who are plundering public health,' Auchincloss said in a brief interview. 'The goal here is to focus the spotlight, collect the receipts, and prepare the investigation, because ... what we know of the facts are damning.'
Neither Means and his company Truemed, nor Smith's company
Main Street Health, responded immediately to a request for comment.
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Auchincloss has been an outspoken critic of the Kennedy's and has zeroed in on Smith and Means in particular, repeatedly alleging potential ethical violations in their tenure. At an April policy forum that featured
Means
Auchincloss cites specific areas of concern
in the letters, including policies and actions by the administration that he alleged benefitted Means's and Smith's businesses.
Truemed, Means's company, gives Americans letters of medical necessity that enable them to spend their tax-free health savings account dollars on fitness and wellness products, which Truemed also sells. Auchincloss questioned Means's potential influence on the House-passed Republican tax legislation and the White House's executive order establishing the MAHA commission, which both encourage the expansion of such spending.
Auchincloss requested Means and Truemed turn over any communications between him and the company during his time in government and what involvement, if any, he had in the development of those policies.
In the letter to Smith's company,
Main Street Health, Auchincloss focused more on Medicare policy. Though Smith left HHS at the end of last month,
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Auchincloss alleged that the Trump administration during Smith's tenure edited a regulation initially proposed under Joe Biden in ways that decreased oversight on and increased payments for Medicare Advantage Organizations like Main Street Health's investors.
He also took issue with
In a brief interview related to his work for DOGE with Fox News in March, Smith said his work was focused on the administration's two main
goals.
'Number one, making sure we continue to have the best biomedical research in the world, and number two making sure—which President Trump has said over and over again—that we 100% protect Medicare and Medicaid,' Smith said.
As a Democrat in the House minority, Auchincloss lacks the power to compel answers to his letters, though private companies may still comply. But he noted in his interview with The Globe that Kennedy is expected to testify in the near future before the Energy and Commerce Committee on which Auchincloss sits, where he may follow up. And, he noted, if Democrats were to flip the House in the next election, his committee could issue subpoenas.
Tal Kopan can be reached at
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