Joe Kelly The Australian January 30, 2025
Robert Kennedy Jr has promised to reverse the chronic disease epidemic in America at a combative confirmation hearing and rejected accusations that he is against vaccines, a statement that promoted objections from protesters as well as criticism from Democratic interrogators.
Mr Kennedy – Donald Trump’s pick to be the nation’s top health official – read an opening statement to his Senate confirmation hearing, saying that he was “humbled” to be the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services.”
He used his opening statement to argue that the ongoing public policy debate about who should pay for healthcare in America was inconsequential unless serious actions were taken to reverse the chronic disease epidemic.
Mr Kennedy – a former presidential candidate and rival of Mr Trump – outlined that his initial interest in health was sparked when he began working as an environmental attorney, working with hunters and fisherman along the Hudson River.
He argued that he learnt very early on in his career that “human health and environmental injuries are intertwined.”
“The same chemicals that kill fish make people sick also,” he said. “Today America’s overall health is in (a) grievous condition.”
He said that 70 per cent of adults and a third of children were overweight or obese. Rates of disease were also on the rise including diabetes, cancer among young people, auto-immune conditions, Alzheimer’s disease, neuro-developmental disorders, asthma, ADHD and depression.
Mr Kennedy said that the United States had “worse health than any other developed nation.” This was despite America spending $4.8 trillion last year on health – “almost a fifth of GDP” – with Mr Kennedy saying this amounted to a human tragedy.
“That’s tantamount to a 20 per cent tax on the entire economy,” he said. “No wonder America has trouble competing with countries that pay a third of what we do for health and have better outcomes and a healthier workforce.”
He said that 77 per cent of children could not qualify for military service, and that 66 per cent of children had chronic diseases.
If confirmed, Mr Kennedy said he would make sure tax dollars went towards supporting healthy foods while scrutinising chemical additives in the food supply for Americans.
“We will remove financial conflicts of interest from our agencies,” he said. “We will create an honest, unbiased gold standard science at HHS, accountable to the President, to Congress and to the American people.”
Mr Kennedy said President Trump had promised to restore the American dream and had received a mandate from 77 million people to do just that – “due in part to the embrace and elevation of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.”
He pointed to a large number of “MAHA mums” who had turned out to support him at his confirmation hearing – arguing it was one of the most “transcendent and powerful movements I’ve ever seen.”
“I promised President Trump that if confirmed, I will do everything in my power to put the health of Americans back on track,” he said. “I’ve been greatly heartened to discover a deep level of care among members of this committee … I came away from our conversations confident that we can put aside our divisions for the sake of a healthier America.”
He said the nation had been locked in a divisive debate about “who pays.”
“Shifting the burden around between government and corporations and insurers and providers and families is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” he said. “Our country will sink beneath the sea of desperation and debt if you don’t change the course and ask: ‘Why are health care costs so high in the first place?”
“The obvious answer is chronic disease. The CDC says 90 per cent of health care spending goes toward managing chronic disease, which hits lower income Americans the hardest.”
Mr Kennedy said that a “healthy person has one thousand dreams” but that a “sick person has only one.”
He concluded his opening comments by arguing that news reports had inaccurately claimed that he was anti-vaccine, but rejected this accusation and argued instead that he was “pro-safety.”
“I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish,” he said. “Nobody called me anti-fish.”
“I believe that … vaccines play a critical role in healthcare,” he said. “All of my kids are vaccinated.”
He said the first and last lines of his first book published in 2014 stated that “I am not anti-vaccine” but said he would not apologise for asking pertinent questions and being intellectually curious and engaged.
“In my advocacy, I have often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. Well, I am not going to apologise for that,” he said.
If confirmed, Mr Kennedy said that he would “reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to good health.”
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1/ Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing. Picture: Getty Images via AFP.
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