JustCare

Tag: RFK

  • Don’t trust social media for wellness advice

    Don’t trust social media for wellness advice

    You likely see dozens of clips each day providing wellness advice. Unfortunately, a lot of what you see on social media and TV should not be trusted. What should you do? Jude Joffe Block reports for NPR on what’s happening on social media. Reed Abelson and Susanne Craig report for the New York Times on the misleading information that Dr. Oz promotes, while benefiting financially.

    Dr. Oz has promoted Medicare Advantage plans endlessly, without warning people that they could struggle getting the care they need in a Medicare Advantage plan. Insurers offering Medicare Advantage delay and deny care inappropriately and routinely, particularly costly care. They have a powerful financial incentive to do so. Every treatment they delay or deny helps maximize their profits. Like the insurers, Dr. Oz profits from promoting Medicare Advantage.

    Dr. Oz also has profited to the tune of tens of millions of dollars from selling supplements, even when there is little or no scientific evidence to show any benefits from the supplements he promotes and, in some cases, people can be harmed.

    Some people are trying to fight online misinformation from wellness influencers with accurate information. That’s tough. You want to be sure that whatever wellness advice you’re taking is based on science and not hokum. You can save money by not consuming products that are of no value or, worse still, harmful to your health.

    Whose wellness advice should you take? You probably should not listen to anyone who makes money from providing wellness advice. Anyone profiting from providing advice has a conflict of interest, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services.

    For example, if you look at the scientific evidence, you should be getting a vaccines for Covid and a range of other conditions, even though RFK Jr. likely disagrees. Medicare covers a range of vaccines. And, for most, you have no out-of-pocket costs so long as you get them from a Medicare participating provider.

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  • Trump signs executive order creating “MAHA” commission

    Trump signs executive order creating “MAHA” commission

    President Trump signed an executive order creating a Make America Health Again (“MAHA”) Commission to be chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, reports Noah Tong for Fierce Healthcare. The Commission will look into the “root causes of America’s escalating health crisis.”

    RFK Jr.’s priority is the childhood chronic disease epidemic.  The Commission will focus on health research, our diet, toxins and other environmental factors, health care coverage and corporate influence.  The Commission will release its “Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment” to President Trump in 100 days.

    The Commission has 180 days to recommend a strategy for addressing childhood chromic conditions. RFK has long blamed vaccines for some childhood chronic conditions, and he has not wavered from that position, even though the evidence weighs heavily against his thinking.

    RFK Jr. has explicit authority to hold hearings and meetings and other public events, to the extent he chooses, and he can solicit expert advice from public health leaders. He says that he wants to remove dangerous chemicals from our environment and food.

    In addition to Chairman RFK Jr., Commission members include the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the Education Department Secretary and the Housing and Urban Development Secretary.

    Meanwhile, it remains unclear how or whether President Trump will address high drug prices. The pharmaceutical industry is hoping he will end Medicare drug price negotiations required under the Inflation Reduction Act. New tariffs Trump imposed on China are projected to drive up drug prices, as many pharmaceutical ingredients are imported from China.

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  • Will the Trump administration support Medicare coverage of Ozempic?

    Will the Trump administration support Medicare coverage of Ozempic?

    Among his final acts as President of the United States, Joe Biden proposed Medicare coverage of Ozempic for obese individuals. It will be up to the Trump administration to decide whether to finalize this proposal or kill it. What would RFK Jr. do about Medicare coverage of Ozempic if he is confirmed as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services posits Jonathan Cohn for The Huffington Post?

    Cohn explains that Medicare coverage of Ozempic would be consequential for millions of people. It would deliver potentially significant benefits to them. At the same time, it could cost the Medicare program a tremendous amount of money.

    Ozempic is a glucagen-like peptide or GLP-1 agonist because it works just like a hormone in our bodies that reduces our blood sugar and desire to eat. GLP-1’s have delivered health benefits since the early 2000’s. They became popular when they could be taken once a week. They are also sometimes referred to as semaglutide.

    Semaglutide–marketed in some cases as Ozempic or Wegovy–treats diabetes, heart disease as well as weight loss. But, it is quite costly, with prices as high as $1,000 a month.

    Today, Medicare only covers semaglutide for people with diabetes and heart disease. By law Medicare covers medically reasonable and necessary treatments for health conditions, with a few exceptions, including weight-loss. The Biden administration is now arguing that when people are found to be obese, it threatens their health, and a semaglutide affords them medically reasonable and necessary treatment.

    If the Trump administration finalizes coverage of semaglutide, the price tag is projected to be around $40 billion over ten years. More than ten percent of the 65 million people with Medicare are obese. But, if the Trump administration does not repeal Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which allows for Medicare drug price negotiation, the federal government would have the power to pay a lower price for the drug beginning in 2027.

    RFK Jr. has said that he opposes coverage of semaglutide. He argues that obesity stems from malnutrition. We should be spending taxpayer dollars on healthy meals for Americans, not using it to boost Pharma profits.

    To be clear, the evidence shows that people are obese for a number of reasons, and many of those reasons have nothing to do with healthy eating.

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  • If confirmed as head of HHS, RFK Jr. could end Pharma’s direct to consumer ads

    If confirmed as head of HHS, RFK Jr. could end Pharma’s direct to consumer ads

    If Congress confirms RFK Jr. to head the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), it might keep us from receiving needed vaccines, endangering our own health and the public health. But, it could also spell the end of direct-to-consumer marketing of prescription drugs, reports Andrea Park for Fierce Pharma. And, that’s good news for Americans, as the ads, much like the Medicare Advantage ads, can be extremely deceptive.

    When he was running for president several months ago, RFK Jr. declared that he would ban pharmaceutical company advertisements on TV through an executive order. President-elect Trump could follow his lead. Of course, the pharmaceutical companies will challenge this act, claiming it abridges their first amendment right to free speech, and they could prevail. That said, not until 1983 did pharmaceutical companies begin advertising their drugs to consumers on TV. Before that, they marketed their drugs exclusively to doctors and pharmacists.

    Today, Pharma spends buckets marketing their prescription drugs. And, for good reason. Their return on investment is tremendous, as much as five times for some drugs.

    The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that permit direct-to-consumer marketing of prescription drugs.

    It’s still unclear whether RFK Jr. will take on Pharma’s ads or direct his attention to US food policies. But, Trump’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is under HHS control, could also act to end Pharma consumer ads. Dr. Martin Makary published a study ten years ago finding that “Further investigation of provider advertising, its effects on quality of care, and potential oversight mechanisms is needed.”

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  • As HHS head, will RFK Jr. take on big insurers?

    As HHS head, will RFK Jr. take on big insurers?

    President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, reports Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Susanne Craig for The New York Times. The choice is to be expected given RFK Jr.’s strong alliance with Trump. If the Senate confirms the nomination, as expected, what will it mean for the health of our nation?

    RFK Jr. is an anti-vaxxer, critical of our public health agencies, over which he will preside. It has been reported that he might try to end legal protection for pharmaceutical companies that release vaccines, likely deterring production of new vaccines. So, our public health is likely at serious risk.

    But, Kennedy also has promised to eliminate the corporate control of our federal food and health agencies, if confirmed. And, that is desperately needed.

    Kennedy correctly describes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as controlled by corporations. In his words, “The F.D.A. is just a sock puppet to the industries it is supposed to regulate.” The FDA gets “user fees” from pharmaceutical and medical device companies, which represent about half its budget. Not surprisingly, it behaves in ways that would make you question its independence.

    Pharmaceutical company stocks have fallen in value since Trump announced Kennedy as his pick for HHS Secretary. Big Pharma is likely right now trying to derail Kennedy’s nomination. But, it’s hard to imagine that the Republican Congress will oppose any of Trump’s cabinet nominees.

    It’s also clear that RFK Jr. will only have as much latitude to take on the big health care corporations as Trump allows him. What Trump will allow him to do remains an open question.

    Among some of RFK’s most extreme positions is a desire to prosecute The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine, two of the most respected medical journals in the country, under the federal anti-corruption statute. Kennedy claims that they publish “phony science.”

    Kennedy also has called for eliminating fluoride in public water supplies, a position counter to the science. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls water fluoridation one of the greatest public health achievements. It prevents tooth decay.

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