{"id":490991,"date":"2026-02-26T05:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490991\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T05:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:41:16","slug":"watch-surgeon-general-nominee-means-says-health-problems-reflect-nation-with-a-broken-heart-society-losing-its-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490991\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Surgeon General nominee Means says health problems reflect nation with a &#8216;broken heart,&#8217; &#8216;society losing its mind&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer allied with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., says she wants to address the root causes of chronic disease if chosen as the nation&#8217;s doctor.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the clip in the video player above.<\/p>\n<p>Means, in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/watch-live-casey-means-testifies-at-senate-confirmation-hearing-for-surgeon-general\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a confirmation hearing<\/a> with the Senate health committee on Wednesday, said her goal is to &#8220;get more whole, healthy foods on American plates.&#8221; She said the nation&#8217;s current system of &#8220;whack-a-mole medicine&#8221; that focuses on treating symptoms isn&#8217;t working.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/the-background-and-career-of-casey-means-trumps-pick-for-surgeon-general\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WATCH: The background and career of Casey Means, Trump&#8217;s pick for surgeon general<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Means&#8217; vision dovetails with Kennedy&#8217;s Make America Healthy Again movement. But senators grilled her on some of its more controversial positions, including on vaccines.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Means wouldn&#8217;t commit to advising Americans to receive flu and measles vaccines if confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe they&#8217;re an important part of public health,&#8221; she said of vaccines. &#8220;I also do not want to not encourage patients to have a conversation with their doctor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\n                    A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.\n                <\/p>\n<p class=\"invite_body\">\n                    Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.\n                <\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/give.newshour.org\/page\/88646\/donate\/1?ea.tracking.id=pbs_news_sept_2025_article&amp;supporter.appealCode=N2509AW1000100\" class=\"donation-link ga-click-funding ga-click-ender-funding\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                    Donate now<\/p>\n<p>                <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer allied with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., says she wants to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-490991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}