Adam Gaffney writes for In These Times about how to make America healthy again: A universal single-payer system. President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress is set to defund many health care programs and policies, including making large cuts to Medicaid and possibly eliminating income-based subsidies for people receiving coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
To “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., president-elect Trump’s pick to head the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is planning a number of initiatives that will only make us sicker, writes Gaffney. He agrees with Trump and Kennedy that the US health care system is flawed in a variety of ways, leading to lower life expectancy than every other wealthy country, an opioid epidemic, as well as millions of uninsured Americans and unaffordable health care for tens of millions more Americans.
One in four working Americans cannot afford their health care. Twenty-five million Americans are uninsured. In total, nearly half of working-age Americans are either uninsured or underinsured. But, the upcoming Trump administration is hell-bent on a path forward that is most likely to boost profits for UnitedHealth and other big health corporations, drive up health care costs, and increase the number of Americans who cannot afford their health care, while contaminating the air we breathe and the water we drink.
Americans who oppose this path should support “a bold, populist progressive healthcare vision.” RFK Jr. continues to promote an anti-vaccine agenda that is likely to be seriously harmful to people around the world; he also denies AIDS. He appears to support a healthy eating agenda, but that is less likely to have legs in the next administration.
RFK, Jr. claims that seed oils are “poisoning” Americans. But, there’s no data to support his claim. On the other hand, air pollution is responsible for 48,000 needless deaths each year in the US. And, if Trump sticks to his first-term agenda, he will allow weaker automobile emission standards and power plant pollution standards. The Environmental Protection Agency projects that weakening standards could add as many as 1,200 needless deaths and 1,900 asthma cases each year.
Childhood poverty is another serious issue in the US, leading to childhood obesity and disease. Policy reforms are critical, but they are not on the Trump administration agenda. Instead of improving the nutritional value of school lunches, the first Trump administration permitted fewer fruits and vegetables and an increase in poor quality food.
RFK Jr. wants to end direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, which is a good idea. But, it is unlikely the Supreme Court would allow this, supporting what the Supreme Court will claim are the first amendment rights of pharmaceutical companies over the value of consumer protections. RFK Jr. also correctly called out the malfeasance of the FDA for approving drugs that have little or no benefit to mollify industry. But, again, Trump is unlikely to address this issue, and RFK’s views on certain drugs are unfounded in science and dangerous to the public health.
As bad as RFK Jr., Jim O’Neill, a biotech investor whom president-elect Trump has proposed as deputy secretary of HHS, does not believe the FDA should weigh drug efficacy when deciding whether to approve drugs. And, Mehmet Oz, whom Trump has proposed to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has a history of promoting supplements and other products that have no value whatsoever. Oz’s own Columbia University colleagues have condemned his views, expressing “dismay” that he is on the faculty there.
Advances in health care treatments are only beneficial for those who can afford them. The Trump administration is ready to make these treatments even less affordable than they already are, among other things, planning to cut the Medicaid budget dramatically. Such a move will mean tens of thousands more preventable deaths. During his first presidency, President Trump attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Had it succeeded, it would only have increased the number of preventable deaths.
As Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed, what we need to “Make America Healthy Again” is a very different agenda from Trump’s–one that promotes guaranteed affordable access to care, clean air and clean water.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Congressional Budget Office reports benefits of Medicare for all over corporate health insurance
- Coronavirus: Medicare for all would have saved lives
- Medicare for All would lead to a better performing labor market
- Medicare for All addresses racial injustice
- Medicare for all would save 68,000 lives a year
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