Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading voice of the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, was confirmed today by the Senate to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the second Trump administration.
As HHS secretary, the nation’s top health job, Kennedy will have the ability to steer the direction of medical research for years to come and influence access to vaccines, drugs, and health insurance.
Here are some key things that might change with Kennedy in charge of HHS.
RFK Jr. Has Been Highly Skeptical of Vaccine Safety
But during the hearings, Kennedy repeatedly said that we need better science to prove vaccines are safe and effective, a position that some public health experts believe could undermine confidence in vaccines that actually have decades of evidence supporting their use.
“Vaccines save millions of lives,” says Stephen Morse, PhD, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
Kennedy’s questions about this fact may lead more people to refuse vaccinations, making outbreaks more likely and increasing disability and deaths from measles, whooping cough, and other vaccine-preventable diseases, Dr. Morse says.
“His greatest damage will be in undermining public trust in vaccines,” says Lawrence Gostin, a professor and the director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
As HHS secretary, Kennedy could influence what childhood vaccines are recommended by the CDC, how new vaccines get approved by the FDA, how much the government spends to research new vaccines, and what vaccines are covered for free by health insurance, Gostin says.
“He is unlikely to revoke vaccine approvals, although he could,” Gostin says. “He is more likely to cherry-pick the data and create distrust in vaccinations.”
Kennedy Wants to End the Chronic Disease Epidemic
Throughout his confirmation hearings, Kennedy expressed concern about how many Americans have unhealthy eating habits that have contributed to a surge in chronic health problems like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
“President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again,” Kennedy said during his confirmation hearings.
“No other nation in the world has what we have here,” Kennedy said. “We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world.”
As HHS secretary, Kennedy could encourage changes in how the NIH allocates research funding to favor more spending on common chronic diseases. He could also push for changes to government-funded health plans that put more emphasis on chronic disease prevention and management.
Kennedy would have limited influence on food policy as HHS secretary, however, because dietary guidelines and food assistance programs fall under the Department of Agriculture. He could potentially change what ingredients the FDA allows in processed foods or what nutrition information goes on food labels.
“He could require companies to have more informative food labels and also put warnings on unhealthy foods,” Gostin says.
Kennedy Says He Will Follow Trump’s Directives on Reproductive Healthcare and Abortions
Kennedy didn’t provide a lot of clarity during his confirmation hearings about exactly how he might approach access to abortion.
“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said. “I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies.”
As HHS secretary, Kennedy might be able to impact how the FDA regulates mifepristone.
“While he can revoke approval for mifepristone, I doubt he would do that,” Gostin says. “But he might influence the FDA to limit access to the medication, such as not allowing prescriptions through telemedicine.”
His Plans for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act Are Unclear
As HHS secretary, Kennedy could play an outsize role in determining how easy it is for people to afford and access care through Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA health plans. He provided few specifics on his plans for these programs during his confirmation hearings.
Medicaid, which is jointly funded by state and federal governments, came up often during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings. Kennedy was critical of Medicaid during his hearings, and said that the program needs an overhaul.
He would also oversee implementation of ACA health plans and could push Congress to eliminate subsidies that make these plans more affordable. In his role as HHS secretary, Kennedy could also change how easy it is to enroll, how hard the government works to promote these plans, and what benefits are covered.
Kennedy could implement coverage changes that increase out-of-pocket costs, Gostin says. For example, “He could influence which vaccines are covered by the ACA cost-free.”
He Has Made Conflicting Statements About Ozempic and Other Weight Loss Drugs
Medicare currently covers the GLP-1 drug Wegovy for people who have both obesity and heart disease and the GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro for diabetes. Kennedy could influence whether these drugs are covered, and whether people with obesity can get them when they don’t have other chronic medical conditions.
