“He enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks.” Caroline Kennedy said.
Caroline Kennedy is an immediate cousin to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the freshly appointed United States secretary of Health and Human Services. Quite frankly, alleged stories of blending baby animals and chainsawing dead whale heads (a story recalled by his daughter) don’t even scratch the surface of RFK Jr.’s danger to the U.S.
Deja flu? When ‘80s nostalgia meets bad science.
“Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, is RFK’s chosen slogan, a play on Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA. MAGA is undoubtedly a call back to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign in which he used practically the same slogan: “Let’s make America great.”
But what’s in a name? Well, not only does his slogan mirror the 1980s, but his policy and research is as dated as the Rubik’s cubes, scrunchies, and jazzercise cassettes that characterized the time.
In Reagan’s famous speech at the Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association House of Delegates in Chicago, he remarked that “We have the best health care in the world, because it has remained private.” Indeed, the Reagan administration actively worked to limit the expansion of Medicare, cutting Medicaid expenditures by over 18%. Instead of Reagan’s promise that this budget relocation would benefit America, over 600,000 lost access to Medicaid. Those who lived in both rural and urban areas experienced losses of over 250 community health centers shut down, with rural populations losing 309 hospitals and urban ones losing 294.
What exactly were the implications of this? The Institute of Medicine’s 1988 Report “The Future of Public Health” stated that “Public health activities are vital functions that are in trouble.” Additionally, David R. Williams, a professor of public health at Harvard University, wrote that, “Negative effects were soon evident in the health of pregnant women, children, and adults with chronic disease. There was an increase in women receiving no prenatal care. The overall decline in infant mortality slowed, and an increase in infant mortality in poor areas of 20 states was evident between 1981 and 1982. There was also an increase in preventable childhood diseases in poor populations.”
RFK Jr. seems to play by his predecessor’s corrupt book, as his current views seem to intend to echo the havoc of Reagan’s.
Medi-can’t. Attacking crucial coverage.
During a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing, RFK asked, “Do you think all that money, the $900 billion that we’re sending to Medicaid every year, has made Americans healthy? Do we think it’s working for anybody?”
This $900 billion was actually only about 8% of fiscal year 2024’s federal budget, but RFK doesn’t seem to care about the facts. Besides, let’s have a look into how Medicaid has benefitted Americans:
Medicaid covered 38.8% of children in 2023. We mustn’t forget the increase in childhood disease when Reagan cut this funding. According to a 1980 study conducted by the Children Defense Fund, “the number of reported cases [of whooping cough] nearly tripled between 1981 and 1985, reaching 3,589, the highest reported number since 1970.”
Whether or not you believe this was correlation or causation, the health that programs like Medicaid give children access to is undeniable. Medicaid is also extremely beneficial to adults over 65 and people with disabilities. Medical assistance for these individuals can be more expensive due to complex health needs as well as higher rates of chronic conditions. Medicaid greatly reduces these costs, and gives these members of society equality in the healthcare system.
RFK’s attack on Medicaid recently took a dark turn when he repealed the Richardson Waiver. The Richardson Waiver ensures transparency in the federal government’s rules and regulations in healthcare, from Medicaid to the National Institute of Health. The Richardson Waiver includes regulations related to property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts to go through the federal government.
The most important aspect, however, is that the Richardson Waiver required the Federal government to go through the process of notifying the public of their proposals and asking for comments before imposing changes. Repealing the Richardson Waiver gives health agencies ample opportunity to add discriminatory policy changes. This could mean work requirements for Medicaid or changes to the funding of research, which we’ve already seen in other aspects.
RFK Jr. claimed the Richardson Waiver was “contrary to the efficient operation of the department and [impedes] the Department’s flexibility to adapt quickly to legal and policy mandates.” But it is no doubt that the repeal gives RFK Jr. more power to change healthcare policy on his own, as he no longer needs to go through the moral obstacles of democracy. Efficient, right?
Needle-less fear? Immune from facts.
I want my secretary of Health and Human Services to promote health. While RFK Jr. claims he wouldn’t deter Americans from taking measles or polio vaccines, his claims about vaccines are ableist and misleading.
Having someone in power who promotes not only hesitancy, but refusal to take vaccines is nothing short of a public health crisis. This public health crisis is already on foot: measles. He won’t deter populations from taking the measles vaccine, but he may conveniently ignore a school-age child who has died of a preventable disease in Seminole, Texas. Texas is at the center of the measles outbreak. As the disease spreads, babies are struggling to breathe, schools are shutting down, and vaccines are not being administered (by choice).
David Klassen, the senior pastor of the predominantly-Mennonite Community Church of Seminole, looks to RFK Jr.’s policy. “I can honestly just tell you we haven’t taken any steps as a church,” he said. Klassen himself doesn’t trust vaccines, “And I get from [Kennedy] that he doesn’t trust all the vaccines, either. And he is very well educated in that; I’m not.”
It has been proven through dozens of studies that there is absolutely no link between vaccination and autism. RFK Jr., however, doesn’t seem to prioritize research. With his newfound power, RFK Jr. actually plans to remove those in outside committees who advise the federal government on vaccine approvals.
“We will remove conflicts of interest on the committees and research partners whenever possible.” RFK Jr. said in his maiden speech to department employees on Feb. 18.
I’ve written previous articles about the importance of working with those who differ in opinion. RFK Jr.’s intent to stack his circle only with those that agree with him is unnerving to say the least.
Usually armed with physicians, epidemiologists, and other public health experts with vaccine expertise, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, makes recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Along with accepting these recommendations, the CDC dictates which vaccines private insurers will pay for as well as which ones the U.S. government will provide to low-income children, for free.
To me, the threat that RFK Jr. poses to our nation is undeniable, yet it is hard for me to internalize his swift descent into madness. Formerly known as an environmental hero and named by Time Magazine as a “hero of the planet,” RFK Jr. advocated for cleaning up America’s waterways. Yet on the second day of the job, he ended all of his department’s funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health. Now also a skeptic on climate change, RFK Jr. poses a threat to not only us, our children, our friends, and our family, but even to the very fabric of our nation.
While our secretary of health and human services has taken a tumble into terrifying conspiracies and harmful health initiatives, we must continue to follow science and continue to educate ourselves on health risks and recommendations. Always consult your doctor on what the best options for your health are, and protect yourself by staying up to date on your vaccinations.
Not only does your own health rely on vaccinations, but the health of your family, friends, strangers around you, nation, and world, too. It is your responsibility.
