Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. insisted this week that he will not attempt a run for the United States presidency in 2028, a decision which could have significant ramifications for the healthcare sector.
Kennedy is undertaking a busy travel schedule as he seeks to use his platform and profile to boost support for Republican candidates in this year’s midterm elections. According to multiple reports, he is expected to throw his weight behind GOP lawmakers on a number of fronts and in multiple key areas of the political map.
He clarified one key item of interest: he does not intend to try to succeed President Donald Trump in the White House, despite gaining some traction as an independent in 2024, when Trump defeated Kamala Harris to secure a second presidential term.
“No, I am not going to run,” he said, according to CBS News.
Kennedy’s decision is of importance to healthcare not only due to his current position, but also due to his steadfast push to make headway with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
The 72-year-old finds himself in a complicated spot. MAHA disciples hunger for him to push the movement’s agenda wherever possible. However, the audiences he will be addressing across the country on the campaign trail are likely to be bipartisan by their very nature.
At the Cleveland City Club, where Kennedy was speaking on a stop during his tour of Ohio, KFF Health News reported that his calls for more parental choice in regard to vaccines drew strong support from half of the room, and an “exasperated” response from the rest.
Many experts believe that for MAHA to thrive, Kennedy needs to remain in his present job.
“If he isn’t secretary, then MAHA’s influence will severely diminish,” said David Mansdoerfer, deputy assistant secretary for health at HHS during Trump’s first term.
There are also divisions among MAHA’s support base in terms of priorities, which have shifted markedly since Kennedy assumed the role.
Whereas MAHA once was widely linked with campaigning for a reduction of chemical additives in food and vaccine policy scrutiny, economic costs have surged to the forefront as premiums have soared along with inflation.
Those increases have prompted many Americans to seek alternatives to typical insurance, with some finding relief through health care sharing ministries (HCSM), where members of a common faith system come together to pool resources to meet the costs of health treatment.
“There is this buzzword of affordability, and it is getting worse,” Christopher Jin, president of the HCSM organization WeShare Health by UHSM, said. “People are stuck with choosing between the traditional insurance they can’t afford, or other options that are not tax deductible.
“It is a great thing that we have our program as an alternative, because everything else in people’s lives is getting more expensive. We haven’t changed our rates in years.”
Meanwhile, KFF founder Dr. Drew Altman cast doubt on Kennedy’s ability to deliver MAHA voters as a powerful bloc, given the disparate interests and the renewed prioritization of cost-effective healthcare.
“MAHA is a collection of Americans with interests in different health issues, felt with varying degrees of intensity, and like all Americans, they care much more about health care costs than the issues typically associated with them or with Secretary Kennedy,” Altman wrote.
A recent KFF poll cited by Altman put the issue into further context.
“Twice as many MAHA voters (42%) say lowering health care costs is their top priority for government than say that about their next highest health priority, which is restricting food additives (21%),” he added. “Vaccines are down the list, picked by just 10%. One issue, pesticides, was picked by 8% as the top priority. That’s an example of an issue that generates considerable intensity from an influential minority. Raw numbers don’t always equal influence.”
Even on topics considered to be at MAHA’s core from the outset, there are difficulties.
Politico reported that MAHA attempts to force food companies to eliminate synthetic dyes and restrict marketing aimed at children have run into obstacles, in part due to those companies greatly increasing their lobbying budgets.
“They have a stranglehold,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said, when quizzed about the food industry’s influence over Congress. “I don’t want to be dramatic, but that was the case with the tobacco industry.”
One thing widely agreed upon is that MAHA’s strength as a movement and its ability to cast meaningful influence over the lives of many Americans could hinge on Kennedy staying where he is.
In that sense, his declaration not to run for the presidency could be seen as a boost for the movement’s followers, but the question of whether that alone is enough will linger.