Hastings Center Report
Making America Healthy Again: Remedies for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Campaign against Chronic Disease
Abstract: Chronic diseases impose enormous health and economic burdens in the United States, especially on marginalized populations, and demand evidence-based, equity-focused interventions. To combat chronic disease, the Trump administration established the Make America Healthy Again Commission, chaired by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, the MAHA Commission appears to be both ideologically driven and scientifically unsound, and as a consequence, its prospects of proposing policies that meaningfully address chronic disease are exceedingly low. Instead of adopting an evidence-based approach, in his actions and comments to date, Secretary Kennedy has undermined established science, particularly on vaccines; gutted U.S. science and public health infrastructure, including segments responsible for addressing chronic disease; and prioritized concerns that have little basis in science. This essay describes the burden of chronic diseases in the United States, digs deeper into the MAHA agenda, discusses the ethics of chronic disease prevention, and identifies evidence-based policies that would actually be effective in combating chronic diseases.
