31-07-2025
Trump's health app plan sparks 'selling out' accusations to Big Tech
President Donald Trump is being criticized for a plan that would have Americans share their personal health data with private tech companies. In the East Room on Wednesday, Trump hosted a 'Making Health Technology Great Again' event that unveiled the proposal.
The Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services is securing commitments from top tech companies including Amazon, Apple, Google and OpenAI to start building a 'digital health ecosystem.' The goal would be that Americans could upload their health records to an app that could be easily shared across doctors' offices. 'For decades America's healthcare networks have been overdue for a high tech upgrade - and that's what we're doing,' the president told the crowd. 'The existing systems are often slow, costly and incompatible with one another. But with today's announcement, we take a major step to bring healthcare into the digital age.'
Trump said this public-private partnership would move the country away from 'clipboards and fax machines into a new era of convenience, profitability and speed and, frankly, better health for people.' Online, Americans were skeptical of the plan, voicing concern that the president was selling out to 'big tech.' 'More corruption and selling America out to big tech,' one X user posted.
Others feared a massive data breach. 'I can see the headlines now, Millions of users have personal health data leaked,' another said. Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor who specializes in public health told the Associated Press, 'There are enormous ethical and legal concerns.' 'Patients across America should be very worried that their medical records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families,' Gostin said.
Officials at CMS argued that users would have to opt-in to use these services. Helping sell the plan is Amy Gleason (pictured), an adviser to CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services, who's the acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency. Gleason made headlines in March when it was revealed that she, not Elon Musk, was technically in charge of the Trump administration's DOGE efforts, while Musk had a 'special government employee' status.
She starred in a CMS promotional video about the effort - and appeared on a panel alongside Trump, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz (pictured) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wednesday afternoon. Gleason spoke about her daughter Morgan who suffers from a rare disease. She recalled how she carried a 'binder of paper records' to every doctor's appointment. 'And I truly believe that if one of those doctors had been able to see her whole history, they would have diagnosed her faster,' Gleason said.
She added that if her daughter had access to today's AI tools, a diagnosis may have come quicker as well. 'Today Morgan takes 21 pills a day, gets two infusions a month and has over 40 patient portals,' Gleason said. 'Her disease is very rare, but her experience is very common.'
Gleason then asked the audience to envision what healthcare could look like with this big tech-government partnership. 'So Morgan, in six months from now, might show up to her doctor's appointment,' she said. 'Instead of filling out a clipboard with her 21 medications, 12 doctors and her entire medical history, she can just pull out her phone and tap or scan a QR code and seamlessly transfer her digital insurance card, her verified medical record and a digital summary that can help her provider get up to speed faster. We call this "kill the clipboard" as President Trump said,' Gleason said.
